Yes, it would make sense. Because what governments call ”free trade” is anything but free. To make things more complicated both opposing parties are dealing with the same abuse: ”our” control, versus ”their” control. They want the same thing, but because they both play a zero sum game against the general population, one side is bound to lose and the general public is set with the bill. The ”west” wants anything but free trade. Free trade will help the people and loosen the control. So it's about dealing with the western control. The Second World, the Warshaw Pact, wants the same thing: control and pushing their own product. People like Tandon feel they are the native kings and they have a divine right to make the life of the people miserable just because of the place they were born in.
So I have written both sides, yet enumerated three. It's because the Warshaw Pact is not on the list, which makes me speculate that a loser like Tandon would affiliate with the Second World in order to get a piece of the pie, meaning the value generated by the hard working people of his country.
So, Free Trade is a good thing. It means people can deal in what they need in exchange for what other people need. It should not be a zero sum game. The zero sum game is the game of the robbers and rapists: how can Tandon put into his bank account the money of his co-nationals, if somebody else is robbing them? In the case of Free Trade each party goes back home with more value than what they have given.
Also, the text is relative. For a governmental gang affiliated with the ”West”, it's the Second World that wages war against the World, world meaning their petty perception of a certain landmass.