Singapore, 12 Sep

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday described US President Donald Trump as "mercurial", whose tariffs on goods have started to hit Indian businesses, and a number of jobs have already been lost.

The US has imposed a 50 per cent tariff, including 25 per cent as a penalty for buying Russian oil, on exports from India.

India needs to diversify export markets to mitigate the impact of tariffs, Tharoor said, adding that 1.35 lakh people have lost jobs in the gems and jewellery business, and seafood and manufacturing sectors.

"Trump is a very mercurial individual, and the American system gives the President an amazing amount of leeway," he said while replying to a query related to Indo-US relationship and imposition of tariffs at a conference organised by CREDAI, India's apex industry body for the real estate sector.

Tharoor further said: "Even though there have been 44 or 45 presidents before him, no one has ever seen this kind of behaviour coming down from the White House".

The Congress leader described Trump as an "unusual President" by every yardstick, who does not honour the conventional standards of diplomatic behaviour.

"I mean, have you ever heard any world leader openly saying that he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize. It never happened before. Have you heard of any world leader saying things like, 'Oh, all the countries in the world want to come and kiss my ass'," Tharoor said.

"Have you heard of any world leader who has basically said India and Russia are dead economies. 'I don't care if they go down the drain together'," he said, quoting Trump, and added that this was not the kind of language ever heard from any head of government.

"So, Trump is unusual, and I would beg you not to judge our performance by his behaviour," the Congress leader told a gathering.

On the impact of tariffs, Tharoor said the truth is that the tariffs are having a "very, very" negative impact on India.

"I don't want anyone to have any illusions that we can just wash it up."

"Already, people are losing jobs. 1.35 lakh people in Surat have been laid off in the Gems and jewellery business," he said, adding that there are potential job losses in the seafood and manufacturing sectors.

Tharoor pointed out that export of many products became unviable because of the initial 25 per cent tariff, and the additional penalty of 25 per cent has made it virtually impossible to enter the US market, with India's competitors having lower tariffs.

India, he said, has no choice but to tighten its belt and move on.

"We are finding it very difficult to get into the American market. And I am pleased to say that we are actually negotiating, knowing very well that we need some access to America," he said, adding that there are possibilities of a reduction in the initial basic 25 per cent tariff imposed by the US.

"The imposition of an additional 25 per cent is not a tariff. It is actually a sanction, and it is a sanction against us for buying oil from Russia. But that's totally unfair, because China is importing more oil and gas from Russia," the Congress leader said.

Tharoor said the US should have a uniform policy for every country which buys oil from Russia.

"This entire sanction policy seems to be completely bizarre and unsustainable," he said.

Tharoor said there is a need to diversify export markets, and hoped that the recent trade agreement with the UK would boost India's exports.

Apart from exploring other export markets, he said, "We also have to diversify our lines of political communication to other countries...we can't just afford to sit there and say we have no other option".

Tharoor mentioned that the Indian Prime Minister has gone to China recently, and the Russian President is coming to India later this year.

"We are essentially showing a serious intent, at least to move away from a confrontation conversation with China. Even though we've had some very, very tough times in that relationship, I think we will find ourselves trying to open up very much more for China than we have done in the last 5-6 years," he noted.

On Russia, Tharoor said the relationship was always reasonably stable, and it might become "warmer" now.

The Congress leader advocated that India should find common cause with European countries and try to create an Indo-European pole, which would have some clout and heft in the world.

More than 1,000 delegates, including real estate developers and consultants, are attending a three-day conference, CREDAI-NATCON in Singapore.

Later, talking to the media on the sidelines, Tharoor said real estate is an extremely important sector for the growth of the Indian economy.

"The population is still growing, and land is not growing. So, the real estate sector becomes a very important sector in terms of not just creating housing that people can live in, but also modes of life are changing. We're having more vertical growth. There's more urbanisation taking place," he added.