WASHINGTON, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Nobel prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman said U.S. President Donald Trump is making the country "irresponsible again" in an opinion piece published Monday.
Titled "Trump Makes America Irresponsible Again," the piece suggested that the U.S. government is acting "irresponsibly" by imposing tariffs on foreign goods.
"It's also a clear violation of U.S. international agreements. And it will reduce the living standards of most Americans, destroy many jobs in U.S. manufacturing, and hurt farmers," Krugman said.
Krugman said history has proven that the use of tariffs to punish trading partners will backfire.
"Like Trump, the advocates of these tariffs claimed that they would bring prosperity to all Americans. They didn't," Krugman said, adding that U.S. tariffs imposed in the 1920s caused farmers to suffer from low prices for their products and high prices for farm equipment, leading to a surge in foreclosures.
Imposing tariffs not only hurts the United States economically, Krugman argued, but also undermines the country's standing in the world.
"Tariff policy is inextricably linked with America's role as a global superpower. Central to that role is the expectation that the U.S. will be both reliable and responsible," Krugman said, adding that the U.S. government is throwing away the role by threatening tariffs on Mexico.
Krugman, 66, won the Nobel prize in economics in 2008. He has been a critic of the U.S. government's recent tariff policies.
