Washington: The latest tariff war unleashed by Washington against India has sparked a sharp rebuke from prominent American economist Richard Wolff, who compared the move to "a mouse hitting its fist against an elephant."
Speaking in an interview with Russia Today, Wolff said the United States is once again trying to play the role of the "world’s tough guy," but its aggressive tariff policy against India will backfire weakening Western influence and strengthening the BRICS bloc.
On Wednesday, the US officially doubled duties on a range of Indian goods, imposing a steep 50 percent tariff in response to New Delhi’s continued purchase of Russian oil. President Donald Trump defended the move as part of his strategy to choke Moscow’s war revenues, but critics warn the collateral damage will fall on US consumers and long-standing trade ties with India.
Wolff, a well-known Marxian economist, argued that India now officially the world’s most populous nation according to the UN has the capacity to redirect its exports elsewhere. "Just like Russia found new buyers for its energy, India will sell its exports no longer to the United States, but to the rest of BRICS," he explained.
The BRICS alliance, which recently expanded to include ten countries Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, and the UAE is openly working to counterbalance Western economic dominance. With discussions on alternatives to the dollar and growing integration of their financial systems, Wolff believes the US tariffs are inadvertently accelerating this transformation.
"Look at the numbers," Wolff said. "If you add up China, India, Russia, and the rest of BRICS, they now account for 35 percent of global output. The G7, meanwhile, has slipped to just 28 percent. What Washington is doing is cultivating BRICS like a greenhouse pushing them to be stronger, more united, and more attractive to the rest of the world. This is a historic moment."
Despite this, Trump has repeatedly brushed off the bloc, calling BRICS a "little group fading out fast." In February, he even declared that "BRICS is dead" and threatened to slap 100 percent tariffs if the group pursued plans for a common currency. His rhetoric, Wolff warned, underestimates the weight of India, China, and Russia in reshaping the global order.
The economist added that Washington risks jeopardizing a delicate relationship that stretches back to the Cold War era. "India is not some small, weak adversary. You’re playing with a very different kind of partner here," Wolff noted. "But for those who enjoy irony, it’s quite the spectacle: the United States strutting like a global bully, while actually shooting itself in the foot."
New Delhi, for its part, has denounced the move as "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable," signaling it will not bow to pressure over its energy strategy.
With tariffs soaring, alliances shifting, and economic blocs realigning, Wolff’s metaphor of a mouse challenging an elephant captures more than just the US-India trade dispute it reflects a turning point in the balance of global economic power.