WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – Outgoing US President Joe Biden on Tuesday branded his successor Donald Trump’s economic plans a “disaster” in a speech hailing his own legacy in office.

Biden said Trump’s threats to impose huge tariffs on imports were a “major mistake” and urged the Republican to abandon proposed tax cuts.

The president’s speech comes after Trump won a second term largely on the back of US voters’ anger at the high cost of living under the Democrats.

“I pray to God the president-elect throws away Project 2025. I think it’d be an economic disaster for us and the region,” Biden said in his speech at the Brookings Institution in Washington, referring to a conservative blueprint for a second Trump administration.

Coughing frequently because of a cold, Biden said US consumers would pay the price for the tariffs that Trump has vowed to slap on US neighbors Mexico and Canada and on Asia-Pacific rival China.

Together they are the three biggest US trading partners.

“I believe this approach is a major mistake,” Biden added.

– Shadow president –
The White House had touted Biden’s speech as a “major address on his economic legacy” as the 82-year-old looks to the history books with less than six weeks left in office.

Biden dropped out of the 2024 race against Trump in July due to concerns about his age and passed the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Trump comfortably defeated at the November polls.

Trump’s inauguration is not until January 20 but he has already become something of a shadow president, making pronouncements on the economy and foreign policy and being feted by world leaders.

Biden has meanwhile kept a relatively low profile since the November 5 election, but he came out swinging in defense of his own record in front of an audience of economists.

He contrasted his “middle-out, bottom-up economic playbook” with what he called Trump’s failed promise of “trickle-down economics” in which tax cuts for the wealthy are supposed to boost incomes across the board.

Biden also touted achievements including the US economy’s recovery from the Covid pandemic and his huge investments in green technology and industry.

“President-elect Trump is receiving the strongest economy in modern history, which is the envy of the world,” said Biden.

But the departing president said he regretted not signing his own name to Covid stimulus checks sent out to Americans, like Trump had done.

“I also learned something with Donald Trump. He signed checks for people for 7,400 bucks,” he said. “And I didn’t — stupid!”

Biden ended his speech with a broader plea for US leadership in a troubled world, even as Trump has repeatedly signaled his intention to take a more isolationist stance.

“If we do not lead the world, what nation leads the world? Who pulls Europe together? Who tries to pull the Middle East together?”he said.