Business · Economy · 8 hrs ago
Jeffrey Sachs says China’s economic rise unsettled the United States
Economist Jeffrey Sachs said China’s growth unsettled the United States at an international trade expo in Shanghai.
Sachs, who directs Columbia University’s Center for Sustainable Development, said the reaction came as China’s economy became larger than the US economy.
He said US strategists and leaders had expected the West to remain dominant for centuries.
Sachs described Asia’s economic rise as a return to its longstanding place in the global economy.
He linked Asia’s earlier loss of influence to a period of Western imperial rule.
The shift matters because it changes the balance of global economic power.
The comments were made at the ninth China International Import Expo; no further action was specified.
Jeffrey Sachs said China’s economic growth caused an adverse reaction in the United States.
He described the US response as an “almost neurotic breakdown.”
Sachs said China had become bigger than the US economy, alarming US strategists and statesmen.
He argued that China’s rise reflected Asia’s natural return to its longstanding place in the world economy.
Sachs made the remarks at the 9th China International Import Expo in Shanghai.
- Who
- Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University.
- What
- He said China’s economic rise unsettled the United States.
- When
- November 5; the article was published in 2026.
- Where
- The 9th China International Import Expo in Shanghai.
- Why
- Sachs said US strategists and statesmen were alarmed that China had become bigger than the US economy.
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- Speaker
- Jeffrey Sachs
- Role
- Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University
- Event
- 9th China International Import Expo
- Location
- Shanghai
- Publication date
- November 5, 2026
What people are saying
This led to an almost neurotic breakdown in the United States because China did something it wasn't supposed to do
They didn't understand that this rebalancing was a kind of natural recovery of Asia to its long-standing place in the world economy after a century and a half of imperial disruption. Imperial, that is, by the West