Reference News website reported on April 15 that French Le Figaro website recently published an article titled "Who is the economist Stephen Milan, who advises Trump?" by Anne Deguigne. The article is compiled as follows: Regardless of whether it is in the French Treasury or the EU, everyone is studying the authoritative articles of White House advisor Stephen Milan. In his article, he claims that tariffs are just a smokescreen, hiding a more terrible currency war. Targeted Will this influential advisor to Trump ever think that he has become the topic of heated discussion among European economists? Milan probably doesn't care about this; he prefers to leave the spotlight for his flamboyant boss. This 41-year-old behind-the-scenes strategist, with round glasses and a careful image of a rigorous technical expert, embodies the high political concept of defending American interests. French Minister of Economy, Finance, Industry, and Digital Sovereignty Eric Lombard suggests: "Regarding the motives of the United States, I recommend reading the article by economist Milan: there is a truly implementable ideology." During his time at Harvard University, those who had interactions with Milan considered him a low-key and diligent student who rarely interacted with foreign students. This young man was very clear about what he wanted back then: he chose Martin Feldstein as his doctoral advisor, a key figure of the Republican orthodoxy and also the chief economic advisor to former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Career through Writing What attracts interest in today's academic circles is not Milan's personal charm, but a long article challenging many economic doctrines. This article, titled "A User's Guide to Restructuring the Global Trade System," was written last November when Milan was still working at the hedge fund Hudson Bay Capital Management. He wrote this article to interpret the future government's policy intentions. For instance, when discussing tariffs, he wrote: "I expect tariff policies will be gradually implemented to minimize adverse market impacts." This calm tone did not deceive many people: Milan was already a core member of Trump's campaign team when he wrote this article. It was essentially a strong and convincing job application letter to help him secure the position of Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. However, he never appeared in the Oval Office, and major news photo agencies have not released any photos of Milan with President Trump. When it was first published, no one paid attention to this article, but now it appears on the desks of finance officials from Western countries. In fact, it explains in a way that worries Europeans the seemingly contradictory phenomena of President Trump's economic policies in the first two months of his term. Chief Economist of the French Treasury, Dorothee Rousseau, said: "Traditionally, people around the world considered the status of the US dollar as the global reference currency as an 'excessive privilege' enjoyed by the United States. On the contrary, Milan and many other advisors of Trump believe that this international dominance is actually a burden for the United States, which can explain the US trade deficit and deindustrialization..." Accused of "Playing with Fire" Milan's article revolves around a complex equation: how to raise funds to solve America's fiscal deficit? How to depreciate the dollar while maintaining low yields on US Treasury bonds? The economist's answer is simple: make America's allies pay. Technically speaking, he hopes to force allies to convert existing US Treasury bonds into bonds with extremely low yields, either perpetual or quasi-perpetual. In other words, it means sharing the "burden" of the dollar with other countries and transferring growth from other continents to the United States. To persuade countries reluctant to accept such an unfavorable deal, Milan suggests using America's military umbrella and reduced tariffs as bargaining chips. He wrote: "The defense umbrella and our trade deficit are linked through monetary ties." Trump seems determined to fully implement this strategy, launching a large-scale trade war while constantly threatening to exit NATO. Former IMF Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard said: "Personally, I don't know Milan, but among Trump's circle, he may be the most knowledgeable about economic mechanisms. He firmly believes that the strong US dollar has severely harmed future industries vital to the US economy, such as industry. So he wants to reduce the attractiveness of US Treasury bonds to investors or foreign central banks, thereby depreciating the dollar. In my opinion, he is playing with fire because if investors stop buying US Treasury bonds, the consequences for the US and the entire financial system will be catastrophic." Milan dreams of formalizing this operation through some incredible agreements at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. He explicitly mentioned the 1985 Plaza Accord in his article. Reaching such an agreement now is unrealistic: in 1985, the United States targeted mainly its ally Japan. Today, Washington's focus of criticism is China, a country less easily intimidated by American threats. Despite this weakness, Milan's article still has its charm because it reveals the extent of American arrogance. This economic advisor to the US president does not hesitate to envision ending the free foreign exchange market, planning a quasi-default on US debt, and implementing some form of capital control, completely disregarding the independence of central banks. Ludovic Subran, chief economist of Allianz Group, said: "Let us not forget that Milan was trained by hedge fund companies. He is used to going against consensus and seeking to create market disruptions." Both Milan and US Treasury Secretary Scott Beasant consider tariffs as negotiation tools destined to disappear. On this point, they differ from another White House advisor Peter Navarro and Robert Lighthizer, the US Trade Representative during Trump's first term. They believe that the trade war, which began on April 2nd, will escalate further and continue indefinitely. What does Trump think? It is hard to tell from his recent conflicting statements. Milan recently admitted in an interview with Bloomberg that for now, the tariff war will continue. He cautiously concluded his article by saying: "There is a path, but it is narrow." Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7493449312693797388/ Disclaimer: The article represents the author's views only. 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