The economist stated in his latest post that Trump has completely reversed 90 years of gradual trade liberalization, bringing America back to Smoot-Hawley tariff rates.
President Donald Trump took a potshot at noted economist Paul Krugman for the latter’s criticism of his policies and economic stewardship.
In a late Sunday post on Truth Social, Trump said, “Paul Krugman of the New York Times has been predicting Doom and Gloom ever since my great election success in 2016.”
Krugman, who won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2008, has been associated with The New York Times for nearly two and a half decades before severing ties with the publication in December 2024. He now expresses his views through his Substack newsletter.
The president said in the social media post that Krugman “has been wrong for YEARS, as ALL markets have been hitting new HIGHS, and are now higher than ever before.”
“People stayed out of the ‘BEST MARKET IN HISTO[R]Y’ because of this Trump Deranged BUM. Sue them!” he added.
Trump’s claim of the market being in record territory can’t be disputed—the Nasdaq Composite and the Nasdaq 100 ended at fresh highs on Friday. The S&P 500, a measure of broader market performance, is within a hair’s breadth of hitting a record.
The Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the Nasdaq 100 Index, has risen 12.68% this year, and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) about 9.37%.
Krugman, who served as a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers under President Ronald Reagan, has since then stopped backing the Republican Party. On ideology, he claims to be a “liberalist.” Liberalism is an economic philosophy that emphasizes personal liberty, private property, and limited government interference.
In his latest Substack post, published on Friday, the economist stated that data indicate the economy is headed toward stagflation, a term referring to economic stagnation accompanied by a rise in inflationary pressures.
“Trump is pursuing really extreme policies on both trade and immigration,” Krugman said, adding that “He has completely reversed 90 years of gradual trade liberalization, bringing us right back to Smoot-Hawley tariff rates.”
More importantly, he said the Biden administration’s last two years saw “immaculate disinflation.”
The economist previously criticized Trump’s firing of the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics over a weak jobs report.
For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.<