US President Donald Trump's policies may cause 'enormous damage' to US economy: American economist and former US treasury secretary Larry Summers

Former US treasury secretary Larry Summers

American economist and former US treasury secretary Larry Summers has warned about the economic policies of President Donald Trump, calling the new administration’s pronouncements on trade for instance “wildly irresponsible” and “potentially very dangerous.”

Summers, who is currently an economics professor at Harvard University, made the comments on Monday in an interview with the Yahoo Finance news site.

Summers, the former president of Harvard, also led the US Treasury Department during the administration of former President Bill Clinton and was director of the National Economic Council during the administration of former President Barrack Obama.

Summers said he was not particularly optimistic about the Trump administration’s direction, but acknowledged that it is “very early days yet to pass judgment.”

“We’ll have to see how the policies evolve. At this point, the details of tax legislation haven’t been spelled out. At this point, the details of what’s going to replace Obamacare have not been spelled out. At this point, there’s been a lot of attitude, but not yet a clear indication of what the new trade policies are going to be. We haven’t yet seen a budget proposal from the new administration,” Summers said.

“I think the things that have been said in the trade area are wildly irresponsible, and potentially very dangerous. I think the proposals on regulation could do enormous damage to the environment, to financial stability, to the functioning of the economy,” he said.

Summers also expressed concern about efforts by Republican lawmakers to repeal Obama’s healthcare reform law known as Obamacare.

“I think that the Obamacare changes run the risk of both raising health care costs, and leaving millions of people without health insurance,” said Summers. “And I think the sense of uncertainty that’s being introduced is something that’s potentially very dangerous.”

A recent report by leading credit ratings agency Fitch warned that Trump’s presidency poses a risk to the global economy.

Fitch highlighted Trump’s unpredictability, his administration’s aggressive tone and his break with established “norms” in international relations as the main threats to the global economy.