Biden Calls Truss’s Tax Cut Plans 'Mistake'

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US President Joe Biden says British Prime Minister Liz Truss’s controversial tax-cutting program was a mistake.

"I wasn’t the only one that thought it was a mistake," Biden told reporters on Saturday when asked about Truss’s plan. "I disagreed with the policy, but that’s up to Great Britain to make that judgment, not me," the US president added.

Asked whether he was concerned about the strength of the US dollar, Biden said he was not concerned.

"Our economy is strong as hell - the internals of it. Inflation is worldwide. It’s worse off everywhere else than it is in the United States," Biden said, adding that "the problem is the lack of economic growth and sound policy in other countries, not so much ours."

On Friday, Kwasi Kwarteng resigned as the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer after reports leaked that he had been fired by Truss over a controversial tax cuts plan for big corporations, which triggered a negative reaction from both markets and the general public.

Kwarteng, who was relieved of his post barely three weeks after his appointment, is now replaced by Jeremy Hunt.

According to The Guardian, on Monday, senior Conservative parliament members will hold a meeting, convened by leading supporters of Rishi Sunak, discussing the prime minister’s future, after Hunt dramatically tore up her economic package. The newspaper said on Saturday that some British parliament members are threatening to publicly call on Truss to stand down over her failed tax-cutting plan.

Last week, Truss promised to reduce public debt amid a flurry of criticism over the government's new plan to support the economy, which includes large-scale tax cuts. After the plan's announcement, the yield on five-year UK government bonds rose to its highest level since 2008, at 4.6%, which meant a decrease in demand for debt securities. Consequently, sterling fell to an all-time low of $1.054 per pound.