Stephen Roach says trade war puts US on course for ‘cultural revolution’

Name: Trump presses ahead with 25% tariffs on imported cars, ratcheting up trade war
Uploaded: 2025-03-27T12:30:13.000Z
Duration: 2 min 32 s
Description: Trump presses ahead with 25% tariffs on imported cars, ratcheting up trade war

The Yale economist lamented the path his country is taking under US President Donald Trump during a panel discussion at the Boao Forum

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Economist Stephen Roach has said US President Donald Trump’s policies are challenging the country “from within”. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Alice Liin Hong KongandJi Siqiin Boao, Hainan

Published: 8:30pm, 27 Mar 2025Updated: 10:16pm, 27 Mar 2025

A prominent American economist has said the United States has “lost its way”, shifting from defending the “free world” to attacking its own foundations and international institutions.

“Once the champion, the proud leader of the free world, we are in the process of challenging ourselves from within – in terms of the rule of law – and challenging the world,” said Stephen Roach, a faculty member at Yale University and former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia.

“Not just through tariffs and a broad-based reciprocal action of one week from today, but also tearing up our alliances, driving a wedge between ourselves in Europe, expressing territorial ambitions – the likes of which we have never seen in the United States in the post-World War Two era.”

He raised his concerns during a panel discussion at the Boao Forum for Asia in China’s southern island province of Hainan on Wednesday, characterising the US’ current trajectory as the early stages of “cultural revolution”.

Unlike the Cultural Revolution in China – the effects of which were mostly felt within the country’s borders in the 1960s and 1970s – Roach said the corresponding event in the US could have a “profound impact” on the rest of the world and become a “major event for globalisation”.

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Trump presses ahead with 25% tariffs on imported cars, ratcheting up trade war

Roach’s remarks came shortly before April 2 – referred to as “liberation day” by US President Donald Trump – when reciprocal tariffs targeting all Washington’s trade partners are expected to enter into force.