Warnings of US protectionism by Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, and others are “rubbish”, Donald Trump’s top trade official has said in a new attack on the big trade surpluses of China, Europe and Japan.
Speaking ahead of the arrival in Washington of global finance officials for this week’s IMF and World Bank spring meetings, commerce secretary Wilbur Ross said those accusing the Trump administration of protectionism were firing at the wrong target.
The billionaire investor, who Mr Trump has put in charge of trade policy and tasked with finding ways to reduce the US’s $500bn trade deficit, said veiled criticism by Ms Lagarde and other defenders of multilateralism about rising protectionism were clearly aimed at the new administration.