World Economist Dubbed ‘Dr. Doom’ Says Trump’s White House Return Will Be ‘The Greatest Threat’

An economist predicts that the effects of former president Donald Trump's victory in 2024 on the world economy will be catastrophic.

Nouriel Roubini, the economist who earned the moniker "Dr. Doom" for accurately predicting the US subprime crisis in 2008, discussed this forecast in an opinion piece for Market Watch. Whether he's denouncing cryptocurrency as a criminal operation in the aftermath of FTX or warning that markets are heading for a "Bermuda Triangle" of danger, the economist has a lot of opinions, and most of them are rather gloomy, per Business Insider.

Trump's suggested economic plans, according to Roubini, "now pose the greatest threat to economies and markets around the world." While battles in Ukraine and Gaza continue and the United States is embroiled in a "Cold War-style" struggle with China, Roubini believes that these conflicts will have little influence on regional and global economies, per Raw Story.

"We have entered a period of intensifying geopolitical rivalries and conflicts. Russia's war on Ukraine is now in its third year, the Israel-Hamas conflict could still become a regional war, and the deepening Cold War between the United States and China may yet turn hot over Taiwan sometime this decade," Roubini writes. If Trump prevails in November, Roubini continues, "The world will be even further destabilized."

"The biggest geopolitical risk to growth and markets is the U.S. election," Roubini explains, sharing that while Biden and Trump share some priorities in foreign policy — the difference between the two is on the issues of NATO, Europe and the Russia-Ukraine conflict is something to worry about. "As the saying goes, 'It's the economy, stupid.' Trump's proposed economic-policy agenda is now the greatest threat to economies and markets around the world," he writes.

Roubini points to Trump's stronger protectionist policies in terms of foreign exchange, and this could be devastating for the world. "Trump has already said he would impose a 10% tariff on all imports coming to the U.S. (the average tariff rate is currently about 2%), and presumably even higher tariffs on imports from China. This would spark new trade wars, not only with strategic rivals like China but also with America's allies in Europe and Asia, such as Japan and South Korea," 'Dr. Doom' writes.

In the academic field of economics, Roubini is highly esteemed. Back in 2006, the audience had laughed when he warned of an imminent housing catastrophe before the International Monetary Fund. However, when the Great Financial Crisis came, Roubini was hailed as one of a handful of market giants who predicted the disaster while other experts dismissed any worries about the economy's fragility. "He sounded like a madman in 2006," IMF economist Prakash Loungani said about him in 2007. "He was a prophet when he returned in 2007."