For months, the whole world has been discussing the shift in US policy under the leadership of the new Trump administration. The Sputnik news agency discussed with renowned American economist Jeffrey Sachs the changes in the composition of the American elite, their strategic motives towards Russia and China, and the prospects of the policies implemented by the current government.

The possibility of Trump being re-elected as President of the United States in 2024 is very different from his previous term. From 2017 to 2021, many people regarded Trump as a political novice, believing that he had mistakenly entered politics on the wave of opposition in American society, and his actions were widely opposed by most of the American establishment. Although there are still many voices opposing Trump within the United States this time, he has preemptively received support from big capital and numerous entrepreneurs representing advanced and knowledge-intensive fields in the American economy, among whom the most famous is Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, and the boss of popular social media platform X. The increasing influence of technology-oriented entrepreneurs in the United States has been described by some experts using Marxist theoretical terms as a "new bourgeois revolution".

In this context, Trump promised to strengthen America's leadership in digital financial technology and artificial intelligence, reduce corporate taxes, relax regulations on high-tech industries, and launched a government cleanup action under the investigation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Musk. This inevitably raises a question: will the current government truly prioritize the interests of ordinary American citizens who are victims of globalization? - this is exactly what Trump's camp strongly advocates in its campaign slogan. Jeffrey Sachs believes that the campaign rhetoric aimed at gaining broad support from American voters is merely the "surface decoration" of changes in the structure of American power:

"Viewing the situation in the United States through a Marxist lens may be closest to the truth: Silicon Valley bought the government; Musk is the prime minister; Peter Thiel and Alex Karp (co-founders of Palantir) are equivalent to a new military-industrial complex, etc. We see an alliance of big capital, artificial intelligence, and power; everything else is just details, propaganda, noise. However, there is no doubt that the prospect of authoritarianism is emerging."

Trump's campaign has always been accompanied by criticism of Biden and several of his predecessors in certain areas of US foreign policy. The most iconic is the powerful information campaign initiated by influential pro-Trump bloggers against American support for Ukraine, as well as calls from Trump supporters for more pragmatic relations with competitors on the global stage. Sachs believes that this shift in rhetoric is also related to the changing priorities of American tech elites.

He said, "The old military-industrial complex is being replaced by a new one. They are seeking dominance in different fields: the Arctic (minerals and Northern Sea Route, thus making Canada and Greenland important), strategic minerals (thus making Russia important), space (thus making SpaceX important), military artificial intelligence (thus making Palantir important), and possible confrontation with China."

Formulating a policy towards China will be a key task for the current administration, but Sachs said that the US government has not yet reached a consensus on this issue. Meanwhile, Sachs said that the US is willing to ease tensions with Russia for rational reasons.

He said, "Trump does not seem to oppose the partition of Ukraine and doing business with Russia, which might bring about a pragmatic peace. Moreover, the US is not interested in alliances but only in transactions."

Sachs severely criticized Trump's economic policies and protectionism, calling the administration's actions weak and harmful to the US itself. He believes that Trump and his supporters cannot overcome domestic divisions and maintain high approval ratings, and their efforts are destined to fail.

"I don't see any possibility of success because the administration's policy goals - tax cuts for the super-rich, destruction of civilian government, protecting the economy with tariff barriers, ignoring environmental crises, and grabbing territory in the Western Hemisphere - are not feasible strategies and do not have the support of the majority of the public. Therefore, the political crisis in the United States will worsen further. Moreover, existing signs indicate that the administration still relies on the Israeli lobby group, meaning new wars and more problems for the US in the Middle East, and cultural wars at home will intensify."

Earlier this year, Sachs attended the China Development Senior Forum and the Boao Forum for Asia. During his speech, Sachs called on China to ignore American rhetoric and threats from Washington, adhere to its chosen development path, and explore new export directions.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7491853401576211007/

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