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President Donald Trump referred to Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman as a "deranged bum" following his criticism of the Trump administration's tariff regime.
"Paul Krugman of the New York Times has been predicting Doom and Gloom ever since my great election success in 2016. In other words, he 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 HISTOY' [sic] because of this Trump Deranged BUM. Sue them!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social account late Sunday (August 10) night.
Krugman, who left the New York Times last December, referred to Trump's tariffs as "clearly illegal" and also bashed the president for reversing "90 years of tariff reductions" in a post shared on his Substack blog Sunday.
“Not to be coy about it, what I’ll argue in today’s post is that Trump’s trade war should be seen as part of a package of policies that amounts to class warfare — class warfare against middle and lower-income Americans in favor of the affluent, especially the top 10% of the income distribution,” he wrote.
Trump claimed that "billions of dollars" were flooding into the United States after his higher tariff rates on dozens of trading partners went into effect last week.
"IT’S MIDNIGHT!!! BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN TARIFFS ARE NOW FLOWING INTO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.
The post followed another shared minutes earlier in which Trump once again promised "billions" would be flowing into the United States economy.
"RECIPROCAL TARIFFS TAKE EFFECT AT MIDNIGHT TONIGHT! BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, LARGELY FROM COUNTRIES THAT HAVE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF THE UNITED STATES FOR MANY YEARS, LAUGHING ALL THE WAY, WILL START FLOWING INTO THE USA. THE ONLY THING THAT CAN STOP AMERICA’S GREATNESS WOULD BE A RADICAL LEFT COURT THAT WANTS TO SEE OUR COUNTRY FAIL!" he wrote.
Most imports into the United States face a baseline 10% duty, while the overall average for international trade partners is more than 17%, the highest percentage since the Great Depression, according to the nonpartisan Yale Budget Lab think tank. Tariffs include several goods that are extremely popular in the United States such as Japanese vehicles, food, furniture and toys produced in China and televisions from South Korea.
Selected oil and gas imports, as well as some smartphones and other items mentioned in pre-existing trade agreements with Canada and Mexico, are not affected by the tariffs, according to NBC News. Krugman was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2008 for his work associated with New Trade Theory and the New Economic Geography.