American economist Richard Wolff said that the United States is acting like the “world’s tough guy” against India, but is only shooting itself in the foot, as it is pushing the BRICS to be an economic alternative to the West.
“India is now, according to the United Nations, the largest country on earth. The United States telling India what to do is like a mouse hitting his fist to an elephant,” he said.
US tariffs of 50 percent took effect Wednesday on many Indian products, doubling an existing duty as US President Donald Trump sought to punish New Delhi for buying Russian oil. Trump has raised pressure on India over the energy transactions, a key source of revenue for Moscow’s war in Ukraine, as part of a campaign to end the conflict.
In an interview with Russia Today, Wolff said that India will find other places to sell its exports if the US is shut off to India, and the move will only strengthen the BRICS nations. He said, “But like Russia found another place to buy its, to sell its energy, India will sell its exports no longer to the United States, but to the rest of the BRICS.”
Economist RIchard Wolff tells RT that America is “hothousing” BRICS with its aggressive tariff threats.
“If you shut off the US to India by big tariffs, it will have to find new places to sell its exports.
Just like Russia found new markets, India will sell its exports not to… pic.twitter.com/xEO4lGp0zS
— Margarita Simonyan (@M_Simonyan) August 28, 2025
The BRICS is a group involving ten countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. The bloc aims to counterweigh Western financial dominance and is exploring alternatives in order to challenge the dollar’s dominance.
“If you take China, India, Russia and the BRICS, the total share of world output those countries produce is 35%. The G7 is down to about 28%,” Wolff noted in the podcast.
Wolff, an American Marxian economist, warned about Trump tariffs nourishing the BRICS bloc, “And what you’re doing is your hothouse fashion, developing the BRICS to be an ever larger, more integrated and successful economic alternative to the West. We are watching a historic moment.”
Trump has dismissed BRICS on multiple occasions, as a “little group” that is “fading out fast” and also said in February that “BRICS is dead”. He also threatened to impose 100 per cent tariffs on the group in case they pursue creating a common currency and said, “They can go find another sucker Nation.”
The economist explained that India has a long standing relationship with the US since the Soviet era and reminded, “You are playing with a very different adversary”.He proceeded to say, “But for those with some humour, it will be the spectacle of the United States acting like it’s the world’s tough guy, as what it actually does is shoot itself in the foot.”
New Delhi has criticised Washington’s move as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable.”
