LONDON, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Leading academic economists, in a survey conducted by the Financial Times (FT), have warned that U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff policies and rapid push to shrink the federal government are expected to slow economic growth while driving up inflation, the FT reported on Tuesday.
Almost all economists in the survey agreed that "uncertainty around economic policy would dent growth, as consumers and businesses pull back on spending," according to the FT, which surveyed in partnership with the Clark Center at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business.
"Tariffs, tax cuts, government employment and expenditure cuts, assaults on education funding, and [Fed] independence all are in play," said Robert Barbera, an economist at Johns Hopkins University. "Nothing of the sort has been in play in my 50 years of forecasting."
According to the FT, the median estimate of the 49 economists surveyed projects U.S. economic growth at 1.6 percent in 2025, a sharp decline from the 2.3 percent forecast in December.
Economists also expect that Trump's policies will push inflation higher, making it even more difficult for the Federal Reserve to meet its 2 percent target.
Additionally, more than 90 percent of respondents expressed concerns about the quality of economic data after the U.S. Commerce Department decided last month to disband the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee, which was responsible for improving economic data quality. ■
