Sixteen Nobel Prize-winning economists signed a letter on Tuesday cautioning that the U.S. and global economy could suffer if Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump wins the upcoming U.S. presidential election in November, according to Reuters.
The letter, first reported by Axios, asserts that the economic agenda of U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, is “vastly superior” to that of Trump, the former Republican president seeking a second term. Economists argue that Trump’s economic plans could reignite inflation, partly due to his pledge to impose stiffer tariffs on Chinese imports, which would raise prices on many goods for U.S. consumers.
“While each of us has different views on the particulars of various economic policies, we all agree that Joe Biden’s economic agenda is vastly superior to Donald Trump’s,” the economists state in their letter. “We believe that a second Trump term would have a negative impact on the U.S.’s economic standing in the world and a destabilizing effect on the U.S.’s domestic economy.”
Prominent economists including Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel laureate in 2001, and Sir Angus Deaton, Nobel laureate in 2015, signed the letter.
Biden and Trump are engaged in a close election race, with the Nov. 5 contest expected to be decided by voters in key battleground states. While headline inflation has slowed over the past two years, many U.S. consumers remain unhappy with high prices for food, gas, and other goods, according to public opinion polls. as reported by CBS News.
Trump has pledged to impose tariffs on foreign imports, including up to at least 60% on Chinese goods, a cost the economists say will be passed on to U.S. consumers as price hikes. “Many Americans are concerned about inflation, which has come down remarkably fast. There is rightly a worry that Donald Trump will reignite this inflation with his fiscally irresponsible budgets,” the letter states.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. James Singer, a Biden campaign spokesperson, called Trump’s economic agenda dangerous.
The U.S. economy is expected to be a major topic in the first presidential debate between Biden and Trump on Thursday, with Trump blaming Biden for high prices and inflation, while Biden argues that Trump’s trade policies, including tariffs, would raise inflation. told by AOL.
