Explosive moment top economist delivers seven-word blow to Donald Trump live on BBC

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Economist Joseph Stiglitz issued a blistering put down as he admitted he had 'strong reservations' about the US-UK trade deal

Explosive moment top economist delivers seven-word blow to Donald Trump live on BBC
Economist Joseph Stiglitz issued a blistering put down as he admitted he had 'strong reservations' about the US-UK trade deal.

By Eve Wagstaff
| UPDATED: 12:15, Mon, May 12, 2025


Joseph Stiglitz has 'strong reservations' about US-UK trade deal

American President Donald Trump has been issued a blistering seven-word blow about his US-UK trade deal. Appearing on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, economist Joseph Stiglitz was asked for his opinion on the new plans after she spotted him "making a face" when Louis Mosely, CEO of Palantir UK, had been enthusing about it.

The Nobel prize-winning economist noted: "I would have strong reservations on a number of grounds. First, it undermines one of the basic long-standing principles of the rule of law in international trade, which is what's called the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) principle. You give the same treatment to everybody. What Trump has been trying to do is bargain here, bargain there [and] destroy what has been created over 80 years after World War Two and if you were complicitous in this undermining of the international rule, I wouldn't be proud of that."

SNIP
"If you're a strong economy like China, you can bargain strongly. UK is not that big if you pay a joint EU in bargaining and you could have done it, even though you're outside of the EU you can get together without anybody else bargaining then you would have been bargaining with strength. That's exactly what Trump wanted. Piece by piece, take the weakest country first, get that, then go after the next country. It is, as I say a strategy where he hopes to win. And finally let me say, Trump doesn't understand economics, doesn't understand trade. Steel, cars, a 20% free economy is about services."
https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/2053930/explosive-moment-economist-delivers-donald-trump-bbc