Treasury Boss Calls Trudeau A ‘Numbskull,’ As Administration Works Damage Control
Stock market and the wider economy are tanking under Donald Trump’s tariffs
Out trying to do damage control with the US business and finance community, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent insulted the leader of Canada as he tried to defend the tariff-led economic agenda of Donald Trump.
Heading into last year’s elections, Trump made an economic argument that he would lower prices that Americans pay for eggs and other vital goods and services on “Day One.”
But instead of economic stability and growth, Trump’s ushered in weeks of financial turmoil and reversals.
Inflation is heading back up under Trump, while the widespread and indiscriminate firings of thousands of federal workers threatens to exacerbate US unemployment.
And after repeated threats, Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs on goods and services imported from Canada and Mexico as well as additional 10 percent tariffs on imports from China.
All of this has tanked US stock markets, with declines sending major indices into the red for the year.
That’s prompted Bessent, the investor and hedge fund manager Trump tapped to lead Treasury, to hit the airwaves to try to control the widening economic doom.
In doing so, he called Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “a numbskull,” and tried to defend and justify Trump’s widespread use of tariffs.
Trudeau has taken a tough stand against Trump’s tariffs, responding with the imposition of Canada’s own tariffs against American exports, as well as promising to challenge Trump’s trade war at the World Trade Organization (WTO).
“As President Trump has said many times, ‘tariff’ is his favorite word. I would say the ‘reciprocal’ is probably his second favorite word. And I think we have to be open to the idea. If you want to be a numbskull like Justin Trudeau and say, ‘Oh, we’re going to do this,’ then it’s going to — tariffs are going to go up,” Bessent said Thursday during an appearance at the Economic Club of New York, which was carried on the Fox Business network.
The insult — and Bessent’s attempts to justify the tariffs — didn’t seem to do the trick.
The Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 all closed lower Thursday. And with the exception of the Dow are also down for the year. And the Dow is up for the year only by the barest margin: less than one-half of 1 percent.
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