Maurice Obstfeld on the trade war’s damage to the monetary system
The former IMF chief economist speaks about Trump’s chaotic economic policies, the erosion of Fed independence and dollar stability, difficult policy trade-offs for central banks, and the threat to the Bretton Woods institutions

The US has a large trade deficit, rising government debt and a growing disparity in incomes. President Donald Trump believes he is introducing policies to tackle these issues. Yet, you have said he “effectively declared war on the world economy”. What do you mean by that?
The US faces some fundamental economic problems, and many of those relate to income inequality and parts of the population that have been left behind. But we should be clear that, over the past few decades, many in the US have
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