BRICS+, Tariffs, and the Future of Global Commerce: India’s Response to U.S. Tariff Escalation

Abstract

This article examines how the United States' 2025 tariff escalation under President Donald Trump reshaped global trade governance and influenced the strategic responses of emerging powers in an era of geoeconomic fragmentation. Drawing on a qualitative case study of India and employing the Strategic Autonomy Adaptation Framework (SAAF), the analysis explores how the administration's use of Section 232, Section 301, and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) expanded protectionist trade policies, generated legal controversies, disrupted supply chains, and intensified pressures on the multilateral trading system. Facing punitive tariffs on key export sectors and secondary penalties associated with Russian oil imports, India confronted increased vulnerabilities in trade, finance, and external economic relations. The findings show that India's response was characterized not by alignment with a single economic bloc but by a strategy of market diversification, institutional hedging, and monetary diversification. Through simultaneous engagement with BRICS+ institutions, Indo-Pacific initiatives, alternative payment mechanisms, and broader trade partnerships, India sought to reduce external vulnerabilities while preserving policy flexibility. The article argues that tariff-driven geoeconomic coercion encourages middle powers to pursue strategic autonomy through diversification rather than exclusive alignment, highlighting India's role as a connector state within an increasingly contested and multipolar international economic order.