U.S. Attempts to Curb China Doomed to Fail: Jeffrey Sachs

A Chinese factory. X/ @Kanthan2030

March 25, 2025 Hour: 9:43 am

‘Tariffs cannot solve the fiscal crisis. They cannot close the budget deficit,’ the Columbia professor said.

Jeffrey Sachs, an economics professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, is critical of U.S. protectionist policies, particularly the widespread tariffs imposed in the first two months of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.

“Tariffs cannot solve the fiscal crisis. They cannot close the budget deficit,” given that U.S. imports constitute only “around 12 percent of our gross domestic product,” Sachs said.

Far from revitalizing the economy, these measures “lower living standards for people that buy goods from abroad” and render the economy “less efficient.” He predicts that such policies will persist, noting, “I would count on a protectionist American environment for many years to come.”

This internal decline unfolds against the backdrop of a multipolar world, a reality Sachs sees as both inevitable and transformative.

U.S President #Trump has announced he would implement a 25% tariff on nations importing oil and gas from Venezuela. The new tariffs could hit China & India, with experts pointing out that Venezuela exports oil to both those countries, & to the US & Spain#OilAndGas #CNBCDigital pic.twitter.com/LZy7JTHW8z
— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18News) March 25, 2025

Sachs has voiced deep skepticism about America’s recent attempts to curb China’s ascent through punitive measures like tariffs and trade restrictions. “Why is the United States breaking the system of trade that it was the main progenitor to promote? The obvious reason is China,” he remarked.

However, he believes these efforts are doomed to fail, rejecting the notion that America must remain the world’s sole leader, a mindset he deems “incredibly dangerous and wrong-headed.”

Sachs contrasts America’s disruptive decline with a vision of global cooperation rooted in historical lessons. He champions globalization as an enduring human reality: “Globalization, in my opinion, is a fact of human life.” He also urges the rest of the world to resist following America’s protectionist path.

While the United States retreats into disruption and protectionism, he believes groups like BRICS will play a constructive global role, fostering “a new potentially more stable, peaceful, realistic order.”