Welcome to Hard Talk on the BBC World Service with me, Sarah Montague.

The American economy is booming.

Growth is well above 3%, and unemployment is near a 50-year low.

President Trump says it's the best it's ever been and has claimed the credit for that.

But he's also imposed huge tariffs on Chinese imports, which threatened to escalate into a full-blown trade

war between the world's two biggest economies. There are further signs of unease with many

economists warning that the US and the world face another recession. My guest today is

Mohamed Al-Ellarian, whose career has been at the top end of economic advice. Along with writing

several best-selling books,

he spent 15 years at the International Monetary Fund, headed the investment giant Pimco,

advised President Obama on global development, and is now the chief economic advisor at the insurance company Allianz.

Does he see dark days ahead for the American and therefore the world's economy?

Mohamed El-Aryan joins me now. Welcome to Hard Talk. Thank you for having me on.

Now, President Trump tweets, this is the greatest economy in the history of America. Do you think

the president has been good for the American economy? So I think he's right in saying that the

economy is in a good place. It's not often that you get

three engines all revving up at the same time, and that's what's happening. Consumption based on a strong

labor market, business investment based on strong corporate sentiment, and on top of that,

you're getting fiscal spending kicking in as well. So yes, the U.S. economy is in good place. Yes, he has made an impact,

but what he's done is he's built on the momentum that was achieved also under President Obama.

Okay, so the graph, straight line, continued. But he's done things that have helped the economy.

He's done two things in particular that have helped the economy.

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