16 Nobel prize-winning economists warn Trump would 'reignite' inflation if he wins a second term
Inflation remains a key issue for voters ahead of the presidential election READ MORE: One presidential candidate ran up twice as much national debt
A group of 16 Nobel prize-winning economists have issued a stark warning that inflation would be worse under Donald Trump.
The former president would reignite inflation and cause lasting harm to the US economy, the Nobel laureates said in a letter first obtained by Axios.
'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,' the letter read.
The warning was spearheaded by American economist Joseph Stiglitz, who won the prestigious honor for economics in 2001.
Inflation remains a hot topic for voters ahead of the presidential election in November, and Trump has long used criticism of so-called 'Bidenomics' as a way to gather support.
A group of 16 Nobel prize-winning economists have issued a stark warning that inflation would be worse under Donald Trump
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The economists wrote: 'We believe that a second Trump term would have a negative impact on the US's economic standing in the world, and a destabilizing effect on the US's domestic economy.'
'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,' they continued.
The annual rate of inflation fell slightly to 3.3 percent in May - down from the month prior.
This is down from a 40-year high of 9.1 percent in June 2022, but still above the Federal Reserve's 2 percent target.
Stiglitz was joined in his warning by fellow Nobel laureates George A. Akerlof, Sir Angus Deaton, Claudia Goldin, Sir Oliver Hart, Eric S. Maskin, Daniel L. McFadden, Paul R. Milgrom, Roger B. Myerson, Edmund S. Phelps, Paul M. Romer, Alvin E. Roth, William F. Sharpe, Robert J. Shiller, Christopher A. Sims, and Robert B. Wilson.
Since prices spiked in 2022, the Biden administration has been playing defense on the economy.
The President is now keen to draw attention to former president Trump's actual economic proposals, which is expected to be a key focus of the presidential debate later this week.
Trump's headline proposals include imposing a 10 percent tariff on all imports, a 60 percent tariff on Chinese imports, lowering corporate taxes and eliminating taxes on tipped wages.
Biden, meanwhile, plans to raise taxes on corporations. He has also stuck to his promise not to increase levies on households who make less than $400,000 - as families continue to feel the pinch of rising prices.
It comes after a shock report revealed that Trump's new trade war could cost middle-class families at least $1,700 a year.
Trump wants to cut US reliance on income taxes - and instead make up the shortfall from increasing import tariffs.
The former president has championed tariffs as helping working Americans, but new research says the policies could harm US workers and industries and worsen international relations.
The warning was spearheaded by American economist Joseph Stiglitz, who won the prestigious honor for economics in 2001
'We believe that a second Trump term would have a negative impact on the US's economic standing in the world, and a destabilizing effect on the US's domestic economy,' the economists wrote in a letter
Inflation remains a hot topic for voters ahead of the presidential election in November
Trump's aggressive trade proposals would cost consumers at least $500 billion a year - or at least 1.8 percent of GDP - according to a paper published by nonpartisan think tank the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
That is five times the cost of the US-China trade war the former president started in 2018, it found.
Separate analysis of the presidential candidates' fiscal spending released earlier this week found Trump ran up the national debt by almost twice as much as Biden has during his presidential term.
Trump approved $8.4 trillion of new 10-year borrowing during his full term in office, according to nonpartisan public policy think tank the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
Meanwhile, President Biden has given the green light to $4.3 trillion of the same type of borrowing with seven months remaining in his term.
Even when excluding pandemic-era relief spending from the tally, Trump still contributed more to the national debt while in office, the report found.
The winner of November's presidential election faces a grim fiscal outlook, with the national debt on course to reach a record share of the economy under the next administration.
The debt passed over the $34 trillion mark at the beginning of this year, and is poised to top $56 trillion by 2034, according to projections earlier this month.
The Social Security trust fund is also heading toward depletion in 2033, when just 79 percent of scheduled benefits would be payable.
If Congress does not ensure these programs have the resources to continue paying full benefits, this would mean millions of Americans would see their monthly benefits cut.