External affairs minister S Jaishankar (ANI)
NEW DELHI: External affairs minister S Jaishankar took a veiled dig at US president Donald Trump while speaking on the unpredictability of the global order, saying “we are seeing is that times are different and a few months, weeks and tweets make a difference”.”A few months ago, it was very clear the world was moving towards much greater unpredictability, volatility, uncertainty…What we are seeing is that times are different and a few months, weeks and tweets make a difference,” Jaishankar said during the ORF panel discussion on ‘At The Heart of Development – Aid, Trade & Technology’ at the sidelines of United Nations General Assembly 80.Reiterating India’s pitch to de-risk the world and hedge against uncertainty, Jaishankar said: “The level of policy changes and their practical impact, played out publicly, is one part of it. We started by worrying about our supply chain and our sources of production. When we said let’s de-risk the world and hedge against uncertainty, it meant having more production centres, more resilient, redundant supply chains.” He further said: “We also have to protect ourselves against the uncertainty of market access… Almost the entire economic chain has become far more risky… The central proposition in diplomacy and international relations is how to de-risk, hedge, and become more resilient, safeguarding oneself against unforeseen contingencies, and then build policy and plans around it. It is a huge challenge for the entire world.”In a veiled but pointed critique of both the United States and China, external affairs minister S Jaishankar on Saturday flagged growing trade protectionism, tariff unpredictability, and coercive supply chain practices by major global powers.Addressing the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), he cautioned that such actions were eroding trust in the international system and disproportionately hurting the Global South.While not naming countries directly, Jaishankar’s remarks appeared to take aim at recent moves by Washington and Beijing, calling out what he described as “trade hypocrisy” and selective responses to global crises.“We now see tariff volatility and uncertain market access as a result. De-risking is a growing compulsion, whether from limited sources of supply or over dependence on a particular market,” he said, stressing that Bharat “will always maintain its freedom of choice.”
