President Biden calls British Prime Minister’s previous plan to cut taxes ‘a mistake’

On Saturday President Joe Biden called under-fire British Prime Minister Liz Truss’ tax plan, which she has now walked back on, a “mistake,” and said he is concerned that financial policies from other nations may hurt the United States in the midst of “worldwide inflation.”

Biden said it was “predictable” that Truss would have to change course on her plan to to aggressively cut taxes after failing to find any savings. 

“I wasn’t the only one that thought it was a mistake,” Biden said. “I disagree with the policy, but that’s up to Great Britain.”

Brian Klaas, who is an associate professor in global politics at UCLA, hit out at Liz Truss for giving the wealthy a tax break at the expense of the economy.

“The British pound just hit its lowest level ever against the dollar, $1.04. Before the financial crisis it was as high as $2. Before Brexit it hovered between $1.45 and $1.70. $1.04 is extraordinary—and a significant factor was clearly @trussliz announcing tax cuts for the rich.”

He continued, “The pound weakened considerably after Brexit (mostly hovering between $1.20 and $1.40). But the collapse in recent weeks has been extraordinary—and very quick. The dollar is strengthening generally, but inflationary tax cuts announced in the UK recently obviously hurt the pound.”

Biden said he was not worried about the strength of the dollar, which set a new record against the British Pound recently. This development will benefit U.S. import; however it will make the country’s exports more expensive to the rest of the world.

The president said the U.S. economy “is strong as hell.”

“I’m concerned about the rest of the world,” he added. “The problem is the lack of economic growth and sound policy in other countries.”

“It’s worldwide inflation, that’s consequential,” Biden said.

Liz Truss fired chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng on Thursday, despite him saying he was “100 per cent” going to continue in his role. Kwarteng has been replaced by former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.