'Dangerous stuff': Ex-Treasury secretary warns of 'worldwide economic warfare' if Trump wins

Lawrence Summers, who served as the 71st Secretary of the Treasury under former President Bill Clinton, warned of “worldwide economic warfare” if Donald Trump implements his policy proposalspolicy proposals, Bloomberg reports.

Summers spoke with Bloomberg Television’s Wall Street Week with David Westin on Friday, describing Trump’s policy ideas as “a prescription for the mother of all stagflations.”

According to Bloomberg, Summers’ comments came on the heels of Trump, in a meeting with Republicans on Capitol Hill Thursday, floating “using tariff hikes as a way to pay for some income tax cuts.”

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Trump in that meeting “also proposed a minimum 10 percent universal import levy and a punitive rate for China,” Bloomberg reports.

Speaking to Westin on Friday, Summers warned there’s never “been a more inflationary presidential economic policy platform in my lifetime,” comparing the proposal to “George McGovern in 1972.”

Though Summers conceded Trump could be following the time-honored tradition of presidential candidates “not [being] serious about the things they say,” the former Treasury secretary described Trump’s public policy platform as an “irresponsible set of proposals.” Between the former president's economic platform and anti-immigration rhetoric, Summers warned of “more wage inflation pressures” if Trump wins the 2024 election. Such pressures, according to Summers, could force another rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

“This could easily be a prescription for a 10% mortgage rate,” Summers said. “… This is really dangerous stuff.”

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Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt hit back at Summers’ assessment, claiming the former president’s “first-term pro-growth economic policies created record-low mortgage, interest and unemployment rates and made inflation virtually non-existent.”

“Americans can expect President Trump’s second-term economic agenda will have the same impact and end Joe Biden’s inflation crisis that continues to rob working families of thousands of dollars every month,” Leavitt said.

Read the full interview at Bloomberg (subscription required).

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