US treasury secretary calls Trudeau a ‘numbskull’published at 18:38 Greenwich Mean Time
Natalie Sherman
New York business reporter
Image source, Getty ImagesThe stakes are rising for 2 April when the Trump administration has promised to set out its plans for “reciprocal” tariffs.
During a speech at the Economic Club of New York this afternoon, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appears to suggest that moment would kick-off a series of trade negotiations with countries around the world.
He also offers a glimpse of what discussions on tariffs with the UK and the EU might look like – focusing on the taxes on tech firms Europe and Britain have imposed in recent years.
Bessent says the White House will be pushing back against those policies, noting UK PM Keir Starmer’s recent visit and saying the leaders had a “very good discussion about getting going on all of this and more”.
The treasury secretary also suggests foreign leaders should keep their cool when negotiating with Donald Trump, and offers unusually pointed criticism of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“If you want to be a numbskull like Justin Trudeau and say, ‘Oh we’re going to do this’, then tariffs are probably going to go up,”” he says.
