PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — President Joe Biden called beleaguered British Prime Minister Liz Truss on Saturday. Abandoned tax cut plan He said this was a “mistake” and feared that fiscal policies in other countries would hurt the U.S. amid “global inflation.”
Biden said it was “predictable” that the new prime minister on Friday was forced to back down on aggressive tax cut plans without specifying cost cuts after Truss’ proposal caused turmoil in global financial markets. It was an unusual criticism by a US president of the domestic policy decisions of one of its closest allies.
“I wasn’t the only one who thought it was a mistake,” Biden said.
Mr Biden’s comments come after weeks of refusal from White House officials to criticize Mr Truss’ plan, but they stressed that they are closely monitoring the economic impact. He was speaking to reporters at an ice cream shop in Oregon, where he stopped by unannounced to promote Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tina Kotek’s candidacy.
Biden said he wasn’t concerned about a stronger dollar. The dollar’s strength has set new records against the British pound in recent weeks. This is good for US imports, but US exports are more expensive to the world.
The president said the US economy was “strong as hell.”
“I worry about the rest of the world,” he added. “The problem is the lack of economic growth and sound policies in other countries.”
“This is global inflation and it is inevitable,” Biden said.