AI Platforms Refute Trump’s ‘Dead Economy’ Claim

• US President Donald Trump claimed the Indian economy is “dead” and announced a 25% tariff on Indian imports and a penalty for Russian trade.
• Five major US-based AI platforms—ChatGPT, Grok, Gemini, Meta AI, and Copilot—all unanimously contradicted Trump’s claim.
• Indian political leaders are split on the issue, with Union Minister Piyush Goyal refuting Trump’s claim and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi supporting it.

GG News Bureau
Washington, 3rd Aug: US President Donald Trump’s claim that the Indian economy is “dead” and his announcement of a sweeping 25 per cent tariff on Indian imports have ignited a political slugfest, even as a query to major American AI platforms unanimously contradicted his assertion.

The controversy began when NDTV posed the question “Is the Indian economy dead?” to five prominent US-based artificial intelligence platforms—ChatGPT, Grok, Gemini, Meta AI, and Copilot. Their responses were a uniform and emphatic “No,” with some describing the Indian economy as “dynamic” and “one of the fastest-growing major economies globally.”

The AI verdicts came as Trump announced the tariff hike and an unspecified penalty on India’s purchase of Russian crude and defence equipment. In a post on Truth Social, he wrote, “I don’t care what India does with Russia. They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care.” Trump also criticized India’s tariffs as “among the highest in the world.”

The Indian government, through the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, has stated it is “studying its implications” and remains committed to a “fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement.” Union Minister Piyush Goyal dismissed Trump’s claim, calling India the world’s fastest-growing major economy.

In a sharp political divide, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi endorsed Trump’s view, stating, “He is right. Everybody knows this except the prime minister and the finance minister. The Indian economy is a dead economy.” His comments drew swift condemnation from BJP leaders, with party spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill calling them a confusion with Pakistan’s economy and listing India’s economic achievements.

Trump’s move is widely seen as a high-stakes pressure tactic linked to India’s significant increase in crude oil imports from Russia since the start of the Ukraine war. Russia now accounts for 35 to 40 per cent of India’s oil purchases, a dramatic surge from the pre-war figure of just 0.2 per cent. Experts have warned that the tariffs could significantly impact Indian exports in key sectors and potentially raise the country’s import bill if forced to pivot from Russian crude.