Donald Trump’s supporters will be his first victims, says Nobel Prize winning economist

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

The core of Donald Trump supporters who have suffered most as a result of globalisation will be the first to suffer under the Trump administration, a Nobel Prize winning economist has said.

Joseph Stiglitz, an American economist and former vice president of the World Bank, who won a Nobel Memorial Prize in 2001, said the President’s economic programme was likely to “trigger a vicious cycle”, in which those who have suffered most from globalisation over the past 25 years would be the “first victims”.

Speaking during an interview with Le Monde, Mr Stiglitz, who has previously denounced the excesses of globalisation and its contribution to the rise in inequality, said while Mr Trump's protectionist policies may save "a few hundred" American jobs, this would not compensate for those that will be lost.

When asked whether he thought the protectionism advocated by Mr Trump would be a solution to the rise in inequality caused by globalisation, Mr Stiglitz said: “No. The irony is that those who have suffered the most in the last 25 years will be the first victims.

“Donald Trump's program is likely to trigger a vicious circle. By reducing taxes for the richest, it will widen the deficit. This deficit will have to be financed by the entry of foreign capital, which will mechanically raise the dollar, as will the restrictions on trade that it wants to impose.

“However, the strong dollar will severely penalise the exporting industrial sector. Mr Trump may save a few hundred jobs by convincing factories not to relocate, but this will not compensate for the lost jobs.”

Mr Stiglitz added that the President’s anti-EU stance was a “hateful” attempt to strengthen himself by bringing others down, arguing that a stronger Europe would in fact be beneficial to the US. He said: “[Mr Trump] believes that by bringing others down he strengthens himself. This is a most hateful idea.

“When he says he hopes the euro will fail, it’s because he hopes this will brings benefits for the US. It’s really stupid. In reality, a stronger Europe is better for the world and America.”

In January, Mr Stiglitz told a meeting of the American Economic Association that the kind of policies Mr Trump had proposed “would not work", adding that US interaction with other countries had to be based on “confidence and trust”, but this was “being eroded”.