India, April 11 -- Lest the headline scandalizes you, this is not an apology for the Soviet Union or its centrally (and badly) planned economy and gulags. So please indulge me.

The world, rather two of the most powerful countries in the world, are engaged in what can only be described as a mad tariff race. At the time of writing this column, US tariffs on China stand at 145% and the Chinese tariffs on US stand at 84%. This is bound to inflict misery on not just the American and Chinese economies but the world at large. What is even worse is that it is almost certain that nothing good is going to come out of this tariff race. What is this madness all about then?

The crux of the conflict can be described as follows. The US, unless this tr...