The U.S. is about to cut itself off from one of the most dynamic regions of the globe, according to economist Nouriel Roubini, who has also slammed the industrial strategy of the incoming U.S. administration.
Roubini, the economist who predicted the 2008 stock market crash and is sometimes known as "Dr Doom", said that China is now becoming the champion of free trade.
"(China is promoting) globalization and free market capitalization at a time when the new incoming leader of the biggest capitalist country in the world talks as if it is scared of competition, of globalization, of trade," he said at a seminar at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday.
"Actually some of the tone of bashing firms and telling them where to produce and what to do ... If Obama has done any of those things then he would have been accused of being a communist. But the fact that Trump is doing it is considered to be good industrial policy by some people, not by me," he added.
Roubini discussed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) which was a centerpiece of the Obama administration's "pivot" towards Asia. President-elect Donald Trump has already announced that the country would issue a notification of intent to withdraw from TPP.
The TPP was supposed to solidify the U.S.' presence in the region, but Trump called it a potential disaster for the country. Instead, "fair bilateral trade deals" will be negotiated.
Roubini expressed his regret at this decision saying the U.S. "is going to be cutting itself off from one of the most dynamic regions of the world."
"That's going to hurt I would say mostly the United States," he added.
