The global economic recovery could be hit if the dispute between the US and China over the trade tariff escalates, renowned economist and former governor of the Reserve Bank of India Raghuram Rajan said on Friday. Rajan hopes better sense would prevail to prevent a full-fledged process of one country acting and another reacting. He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the the two-day Global Digital Summit (#Future), organised by the Kerala government.“I don’t want to use the term trade war, as we are not quite there yet. I think it is very important that we stay away because it could harm the current recovery which has been beneficial overall for the world. For him (US President Donald Trump) to do that at a time when the US is quite strong, has got full employment and doing quite reasonably… I think we should not do this,” Rajan said.
Earlier in the day, he connected the anti-trade movement in the industrialised world and the loss of middle-class jobs to technology and automation. He said the anti-trade movement in the industrialised world is a reflection of loss of middle-class jobs that is causing great anxiety and worry. “The fears are largely around jobs and even in the industrialised world where the education level is high, there are fears that people will not have the income to enjoy all the bounty technology offers.”
Not joined Twitter as slow to respond to tweets Raghuram Rajan said he has not joined microblogging site Twitter as he was not quick to respond to tweets in a few words in 30 seconds. “I don’t have time. My sense is that in many of these things, once you start engaging, you have to be consistent. I certainly can’t because I don’t have the ability to think quickly and respond in you know 20-30 seconds in 140 characters,” he said in a lighter note.
