Sixteen Nobel Prize-winning economists warn a second Trump term would 'reignite' inflation

• Sixteen Nobel Prize-winning economists signed a joint letter to warn of the economic risks they see in a potential second term of Donald Trump, including reheated inflation.
• Trump has so far proposed making his first-term tax cuts permanent, imposing universal tariffs on all imports and pressuring the Federal Reserve to reduce interest rates.
• Many of these same economists signed a September 2021 letter in favor of President Biden's Build Back Better investment package. Critics at the time warned that the spending could stoke inflation.

Sixteen Nobel Prize-winning economists signed a joint letter Tuesday warning of what they see as economic risks if former President Donald Trump were to serve a second term, including reheated inflation.

"While each of us has different views on the particulars of various economic policies, we all agree that Joe Biden's economic agenda is vastly superior to Donald Trump's," the economists wrote. Axios was first to report the letter.

"There is rightly a worry that Donald Trump will reignite this inflation, with his fiscally irresponsible budgets," wrote the group of politically progressive academics.

Trump has so far proposed making his first-term tax cuts permanent, imposing universal tariffs on all imports, with a China-specific tariff rate between 60% and 100%, and pressuring the independent Federal Reserve Board to cut interest rates.

Economists and Wall Street analysts alike have predicted that any or all of those proposals could reinflate prices, which remain vulnerable despite cooling slightly in recent months.

Joseph Stiglitz, who won the Nobel Prize in 2001, led the effort to publish Tuesday's letter. His co-signers include George Akerlof, Sir Angus Deaton, Claudia Goldin, Sir