He has been counted amongst the most important economists in the world, twice included in Time magazine's list of influential people, and has been the special adviser to three United Nations Secretaries-General for over 20 years.
Jeffrey D Sachs, the director of the Centre for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, was in Kolkata speaking to Isheeta Ganguly at the Glenburn Penthouse.
My Kolkata was there listening to Sachs speak on US President Donald Trump, Indo-US relations, the United Nations, New York and New York’s Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.
On Mamdani: He is a young, smart, charming, decent, intelligent, well-meaning politician, and wins in an important place like New York. We are grateful. Mamdani, first of all, is a hope. He was opposed by everybody. He is very bright. His focus is on the daily lives of the people. That’s why he won…. and not for invading Greenland! He is a great fusion of India and US culture. Something good is happening. He is gifted, charming and hardworking. He met New York face-to-face. Zohran is a child of diversity. He knows the world and New York in a special way.
On New York: New York is a special place. It is proof that the world actually could work if we wanted to because it is home to 200 nationalities. Once in a while you hear English on the streets and that is what makes it so much fun. It is a very exciting, dynamic and especially diverse community. New York is a representation of what made America special in the best possible way. And that is its diversity. America is a country that at its best welcomed all of the world. It was nasty to the people who were there first… There is a glorious side to America’s history and that is a country truly of immigrants who could find their way and New York City was always that special place. It was the entry point for three of my four grandparents.
On The United Nations: The US was once a champion of the UN. Our greatest president (Franklin D. Roosevelt) had this idea that New York should not just be a city of diversity but diplomacy… The truth is that this is not the centre of our politics right now. We have a government that is in outright opposition to the UN. Not a vile opposition, but a direct attack against the United Nations. This is incredible, to see the perversity. The US has left several UN organisations during the second Trump term. Within the first year we left WHO, UNESCO, Human Rights Council, the Paris Climate agreement. The US routinely stands alone, essentially alone, inside the UN vetoing measures that the rest of world calls for, and the US now, in my view, is flagrantly violating the principles of the UN charter. It is a rogue government. Trump is a rogue individual in my view.
Sachs was in conversation with Isheeta Ganguly at the Glenburn Penthouse
Indo-US ties: I know Trump had best relations with PM Modi and they had occasions together. Many in India felt this is the best relationship… Don’t ally with the United States frankly. It is not India’s best course right now.
Trump’s tariff policy: The tariff policy is part of a mindset, which is a mind-set of many US political leaders that the US must act to maintain its dominance in world power. And tariffs, for the Trump government, in a very misguided way are seen as a method of maintaining power... The way to do that is to recognise that the United States remains at the centre of the world economy, its control over US markets and US dollar give it dominance. And, therefore, there will be a kind of club. The club will be those countries that want to be on the inside of this world dominant economic sphere. They will be allowed to join but on America’s terms. So, if you want to join the club, you will agree that the US will impose tariffs on your goods, but you will give access to your markets to America tariff-free. You will agree to the conditions that America sets. You will buy American products. You will use the US dollar. You will allow American military bases, buy US military goods… That is the basic idea of the tariffs. A wall that the US will create for friendly nations, since the US is at the centre of the world, if not the universe, with Donald Trump being the centre around which the whole world revolves… it’s delusional, it’s nasty.
Donald Trump: Donald Trump does not represent America. He is not good for America. He is not good for India. He is an aberration but a dangerous one. And he is not alone in the world. Actually, our best hope is a generation of young leaders, head on straight, who know what’s real and not real and hopefully can leave behind the clichés and fears that grip our world and can get on with the challenges.