ZAGREB, March 7 (Xinhua) -- The Trump administration's tariff policy will harm the United States in the long run, Croatian economist Ljubo Jurcic said in an interview with Xinhua on Friday.

"There is a risk of a trade war due to the U.S.' introduction of tariffs," Jurcic, also former Croatian economic minister, said, adding that "There will be no winner in such a trade war."

From an economic perspective, tariffs are harmful to both the U.S. and the rest of the world, Jurcic said. Tariffs raise prices for the country imposing them and the country on which they are imposed, he explained, leading to economic stagnation.

It is consumers in the U.S. who will have to bear the consequences of the tariffs, Jurcic stressed.

"The standard of living of U.S. citizens will deteriorate, they will have to pay for more expensive goods. At the end of the day, we can expect to see stagnation in consumption and production, imports and exports," he said.

A U.S. think tank has revealed that the Trump administration's recent tariff policy would drive inflation upward by a full percentage point and see about 1,600 U.S. dollars in disposable income wiped away annually from the average U.S. household.

The price level in the U.S. is estimated to rise by 1.0 to 1.2 percent, equivalent to a consumer loss of 1,600 to 2,000 dollars per household on average in 2024 dollars due to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs imposed on Canada, Mexico and China, according to an analysis released by the Yale Budget Lab on Monday.

Tariffs have never been a real solution for a country facing a trade deficit, Jurcic believes.

Tariffs may help in the short term, he said, but in the long run they raise prices and lead to a slowdown in the global economy. Enditem

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