Stephen Roach Says Trade War Puts U.S. On Course For ‘Cultural Revolution’

“Once the champion, the proud leader of the free world, we are in the process of challenging ourselves from within – in terms of the rule of law – and challenging the world,” said Stephen Roach, a faculty member at Yale University and former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia.

“Not just through tariffs and a broad-based reciprocal action of one week from today, but also tearing up our alliances, driving a wedge between ourselves in Europe, expressing territorial ambitions – the likes of which we have never seen in the United States in the post-World War Two era.”

He raised his concerns during a panel discussion at the Boao Forum for Asia in China’s southern island province of Hainan on Wednesday, characterising the US’ current trajectory as the early stages of “cultural revolution”.

Unlike the Cultural Revolution in China – the effects of which were mostly felt within the country’s borders in the 1960s and 1970s – Roach said the corresponding event in the US could have a “profound impact” on the rest of the world and become a “major event for globalisation”.