U.S. President Joe Biden says he thought British Prime Minister Liz Truss’ original economic plan was a mistake and that he wasn’t alone. Truss’ plan led to a steep dive in the value of the British pound.
“I wasn’t the only one that thought it was a mistake,” Biden said to reporters during a stop at an ice cream shop in Oregon where he was helping campaign for Tina Kotek, who is running for Oregon governor.
The White House has refrained from commenting on Truss’ problems and when asked about the strength of the U.S. dollar, Biden said, “I’m not concerned about the strength of the dollar. I’m concerned about the rest of the world.”
Earlier Saturday, Britain’s new finance minister, Jeremy Hunt, said some taxes would go up and tough spending decisions were needed, saying the prime minister had made mistakes as she battles to keep her job just more than a month into her term.
In an attempt to appease financial markets that have been in turmoil for three weeks, Truss fired Kwasi Kwarteng as her chancellor of the exchequer on Friday and scrapped parts of their controversial economic package.
Biden also told reporters in Oregon something he’d said a day earlier in California: that he was surprised by the courage of the people taking to the streets in protest in Iran. He was commenting on the weeks of unrest in Iran since a young woman was killed in police custody.
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