New Delhi, Jan. 31 -- The deliberate use of economic tools to achieve foreign policy or national security objectives, such as forcing a country to stop hostilities with a third party or to open up its markets, has rapidly increased in the past few years, India's Economic Survey 2025-26 said on Thursday amid disruptions caused by the trade policies of the US. The Economic Survey, which reflects the finance ministry's views on the state of the economy, referred to tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on trade partners across the world as the "most disruptive" upheaval experienced by the global economy in the past year and said the global economic environment remains uncertain because of geopolitical tensions and trade disruptions. In a section on the resurgence of "economic statecraft" and the need for India to achieve "strategic resilience and indispensability", the economic survey said this shift reflects rising geopolitical competition, concerns over technological dominance and vulnerabilities in traditional value chains. Economic statecraft, the report noted, uses tools to achieve foreign policy or national security objectives, "such as compelling a country to stop hostilities with a third party or to liberalise its markets". President Donald Trump hit Indian exports with an unprecedented 50% tariffs last year, including a 25% punitive levy on Russian oil purchases as part of his efforts to end the war in Ukraine, leading to strains in India-US relations not witnessed in almost two decades. Indian officials have said the two sides have made "very significant" progress in negotiations for a bilateral trade agreement, though the Trump administration has repeatedly pushed for the opening up of India's farm and dairy sectors - described by New Delhi as "red lines". With geopolitical considerations exerting greater influence than in the 2010s, the report noted that traditional economic assessments have to be supplemented by factoring in "rapidly evolving country alignments and supply chains" and technological developments. The survey noted that economic statecraft can manifest as either "carrots" or "sticks", and listed several tools in trade, capital and technology used by both the US and China to hinder the strategic military and civilian capabilities of rival states. These include US export controls on critical technologies such as semiconductors and manufacturing equipment to constrain China's access to next-generation AI and chip technologies, and China's export restrictions on critical minerals and permanent magnet materials needed for defence, electronics and energy transitions, such as curbs imposed in early 2026 on dual-use item exports to Japan. India's automobile industry was among those affected by China's tightening of export licences and controls on rare earth materials last year and the matter was officially raised by New Delhi with Beijing, leading to the easing of some curbs. The report noted that Chinese authorities had added foreign defence and technology firms to "Unreliable Entities Lists", restricting trade and investment in response to perceived national security threats, while Western nations used sanctions against Russian entities to constrict war-related supply chains. The report also listed tariffs as another tool of economic statecraft, such as the European Union (EU)'s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)....