US tariffs as most disruptive in global economy: Survey

India must focus on building enduring national capabilities and economic sovereignty in the face of shrinking space for rules-based trading, anti-immigrant stance, weaponisation of energy sources and growing use of export controls in critical sectors, the Economic Survey said on Thursday.

It said the global economy has been subjected to “multiple upheavals” and the “most disruptive” among these disturbances was the imposition of tariffs by the US on imports from its trade partners.

In a world where economic relationships are increasingly strategic and contested, the ability to learn becomes a core element of “Statecraft”, it said, noting that India must build enduring national capabilities to deal with the challenging geopolitical scenario.

The assessment comes against the backdrop of growing concerns over the Trump administration’s policies on trade, tariffs and immigration, China’s export control measures relating to critical minerals and increasing disquiet in the West over India’s energy ties with Russia.

The Economic Survey 2025-26, which was tabled in Parliament, referring to geopolitical and economic turbulence, said strategic competition is increasingly fuelling trade wars, while nations vie for access to critical minerals and technological resources in a manner “reminiscent of a new colonial scramble”.

The recent experience illustrated that “economic interdependence, once viewed as a source of mutual stability, is now increasingly perceived as a channel of vulnerability”, it said.