Joseph Stiglitz warns of economic fallout from dismantled regulations, weakened enforcement, and crypto secrecy under Trump
The United States is on track to become the world’s largest tax haven, according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz, who warns that recent actions by the Trump administration are eroding global standards of financial transparency, economic fairness, and international cooperation.
Writing in The Jamaica Gleaner, Stiglitz criticises the administration’s decision to roll back key oversight mechanisms, including the withdrawal from international frameworks aimed at sharing the identities of company owners. He points to the Treasury Department’s retreat from transparency regimes, the administration’s exit from negotiations for a United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, and the abandonment of enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act as critical indicators.
“Donald Trump is quickly turning the United States into the greatest tax haven in history,” Stiglitz stated.
He argues that the Trump administration is pursuing a broader strategy that threatens to undo centuries of institutional checks. The economist accuses the administration of undermining treaties, ignoring conflicts of interest, and weakening accountability. “The administration isn’t debating policy; it’s trampling the rule of law,” he added.
Stiglitz also highlights Trump’s fixation on import tariffs. “He appears to believe that foreigners are footing the bill, thereby providing the money to cut taxes for billionaires,” he wrote, before clarifying that tariffs are, in fact, paid by US importers, raising domestic costs and contributing to inflation.
Further economic contradictions are exposed in the administration’s tax policy. According to Stiglitz, tax cuts for the wealthy—such as those proposed through the extension of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act—would add an estimated US$37 trillion to the national debt over the next 30 years, with no discernible economic benefit. “Empirical research confirms that tax cuts for the rich have no measurable impact on economic growth or unemployment,” he noted.
The damage, he argues, extends beyond macroeconomics. “The US has become a service economy,” Stiglitz observed, yet policies that undermine education, healthcare, and tourism—once among the country’s most valuable exports—are now discouraging international students, patients, and visitors.
The Trump administration’s crypto-friendly agenda is also drawing scrutiny. Stiglitz warns that deregulation, lax oversight, and pro-crypto executive orders have bolstered illicit activity. “Cryptocurrencies are about one thing: secrecy,” he said. “Demand for cryptocurrencies comes from the desire to hide money.”
With enforcement mechanisms weakened, including a dramatic reduction of 50,000 IRS staff projected to cost the country $2.4 trillion in revenue over a decade, Stiglitz claims the US is creating the conditions for vast tax evasion and wealth hoarding.
Global Cooperation Could Rise from US Retreat
Stiglitz calls for stronger international alliances as America exits multilateral tax frameworks
As the US steps back from global tax agreements, Stiglitz argues that the rest of the world must fill the void. The global 15% minimum corporate tax and new G20 initiatives, he said, could lay the foundation for fairer systems without US interference. “America’s self-isolation creates an opportunity to rebuild globalisation on truly multilateral grounds – a G-minus-one for the 21st century.”
