'2025 crisis not real, isn’t like 2020 or 2008 recessions': Finfluencer says it's a giant negotiation

According to popular finfluencer Akshat Shrivastava, the current global financial downturn is not a true crisis but rather a “manufactured” one.

In a post on X, Shrivastava argued that the situation in 2025 can’t be compared to the COVID-19 recession of 2020 or the Great Recession of 2008.

He wrote, “2020 was a genuine crisis. Within a few months, the markets (after falling) made an all-time high. 2025 is a manufactured crisis. People are saying a lot of things, but at the end of the day: this is a giant negotiation, not really a crisis.”


He acknowledged ongoing uncertainty in the markets but maintained, “You can’t compare this to 2020 or even 2008. Of course, there is uncertainty and egos at play. And markets can remain volatile. But this isn’t the same.”


The 2020 Recession was triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and the global lockdowns that followed. Most economies entered a downturn by February 2020, and the subsequent collapse in consumer activity and industrial output led to a sharp global slowdown.

The 2008 Recession, often called the Great Recession, originated from the U.S. housing market collapse and the subprime mortgage crisis. Major financial institutions either failed or needed government bailouts as mortgage-backed securities lost value in 2007–2008.

Shrivastava believes that unlike these two crises, the 2025 downturn is being driven more by geopolitical tensions and economic posturing than by structural flaws or global calamities.

The Role of Tariffs in the 2025 Downturn

U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff hikes are being seen as a major trigger for current market fears. Last week’s sharp increase in tariffs—10% across nearly all countries and additional duties on 60 others—have rattled global markets. Economists say these changes are so large and sudden that they could significantly disrupt global supply chains.

Kotak AMC MD Nilesh Shah has warned that broad-based U.S. tariffs have historically been followed by recessions. “If global growth slows down because the engine itself is slowing, all asset classes will come under pressure,” he told ET Now.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs raised its probability of a U.S. recession to 45%, while JPMorgan estimated it at 60%, also projecting inflation to climb to 4.4% by year-end—up from 2.8%.

Economists at Wells Fargo calculated that average U.S. tariffs could rise tenfold to around 23%, the highest since 1908. Economist Shannon Grein noted, “This kind of shift overnight could disrupt global supply chains in a way not seen since the pandemic—or perhaps even World War II.”