Finance ministers, led by Janet Yellen, have made a number of backhanded swipes at the UK warning against governments carrying out unfunded tax cuts and policies that threaten financial stability.
The US treasury secretary made her comments during a G7 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors on Wednesday and while Yellen did not aim her criticism directly at the chancellor, it was clearly a veiled dig at Kwasi Kwarteng’s min-budget.
The Times quoted one diplomat as saying that Kwarteng and Bank of England governor, Andrew Bailey did not respond, sticking squarely to their pre-prepared scripts.
Canada’s finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, was also said to have made criticisms although the ECB’s Christine Lagarde was one of the few to explicitly praise Bailey and the Bank for their emergency interventions in recent days.
While the US Treasury did not comment, it is not the first time it has criticised the UK's mini-budget.
Last month, US commerce secretary Gina Raimondo said the plan risked stoking inflation.
“The policy of cutting taxes, and simultaneously increasing spending, isn’t one that is going to fight inflation in the short term or put you in good stead for long-term economic growth,” she said.
Kwasi Kwarteng, is set to be in the spotlight again today as he meets world leaders at the autumn meetings of the International Monetary Fund in Washington.
It will be his first major international appearance and it comes at a critical time, as he is under huge pressure at home to reverse his mini-budget of unfunded tax measures, which sent the pound sliding, government borrowing costs soaring and pushed up mortgage rates.