Politics increasingly trumps economics in present era: Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said politics increasingly “trumps” economics in the present era, and in an “uncertain world”, it is important that the country continuously diversifies supply sources to guarantee its needs.

He also said the United States has set radically new terms of engagement by dealing with countries on a one-on-one basis.

Jaishankar was addressing a gathering after being conferred Honorary Doctorate by IIM-Calcutta at its campus here. He added that India has been actively pursuing self-reliance and making itself a manufacturing base for industries.

“This is an era where politics increasingly trumps economics and that is not a pun in an uncertain world, it is all the more important that we continuously diversify supply sources to guarantee our national needs,” Jaishankar said.

“The United States, long the underwriter of the contemporary system, has set radically new terms of engagement. It is doing so by dealing with countries on a one-on-one basis,” he noted.

India and the US are having two parallel negotiations — one on a framework trade deal to address tariffs and another on a comprehensive trade deal.

The External Affairs Minister said that China has “long played by its own rules”, and is doing so even now. In the ensuing scenario, other nations are unclear whether attention should be on visible competition or the tradeoffs and understandings that punctuate it, he said.

“Faced with such pulls and pressures of globalisation, of fragmentation and of supply insecurity, the rest of the world responds by hedging against all contingencies,” Jaishankar said.

India has been making exponential advancements in infrastructure as well as in the latest scientific developments, he asserted.