India, Gulf gain room to manoeuvre as US-China rivalry reshapes world, says former UK PM Rishi Sunak

Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Rishi Sunak said on Tuesday that nations like India and ones in the Gulf are increasingly being able to affect the growing changes in global order without always agreeing with either the United States or China, shedding light on the rising global geopolitical uncertainty.

Speaking at a panel discussion titled "The End of Predictability" and the Bloomberg New Economy Forum 2026 in New Delhi, Sunak mentioned the world was seeing a move away from rule-based and multilateral framewords that had given shape to the global economy, thereby resulting in new risks and uncertainties.

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"We all grew up investing in, operating in a multilateral rules-based framework, largely enforced by US President Trump is not a cause for that; he's a symptom of that, and the world that we're in now is one where we don't quite know what we've settled down to, and that creates an enormous amount of geopolitical uncertainty and indeed danger," Sunak said.

Sunak added that China's rise gives competition to the United States across multiple spheres, calling it a major new trait of the global economy.

"So, China is a peer competitor for the US across economic, military, and technological domains. That is a new feature of the world economy," he said.

"Countries like India, like the Gulf, now are able to chart their own course. They're not going to always agree with the US or China. They're going to do what they want, and that's a new feature," the former UK Prime Minister said.

He was further concerned about issues pertaining to global security, while referring to the rising number of armed conflicts and their respective implications on international stability.

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"And I think it's no coincidence that right now there are more armed conflicts happening than at any point since World War II. 61 different state-based armed conflicts around the world. Now I look at that, and I'm worried," he said.

"I think President Trump probably looks at that and thinks 61 opportunities to win the Nobel Peace Prize," he added.

The panel discussion, "The End of Predictability", examined the nature of leadership in an era when uncertainty, fragmentation and disruption have become defining features of the global economy.

The session also included Natarajan Chandrasekaran, the Chairman of Tata Sons, and Jonathan Gray, President and Chief Operating Officer of Blackstone.

The Bloomberg New Economy Forum 2026 is being held in New Delhi from October 13 to October 15.