A Donald Trump ally compared Victoria Derbyshire to a ‘kindergartner’ before threatening to storm off camera during a fiery interview about the new US tariffs.
Sebastian Gorka, who is the president’s deputy assistant, clashed with the veteran journalist during an extraordinary exchange on BBC Newsnight.
It comes after Trump sparked a trade war by unveiling a crippling series of tariffs as part of his ‘liberation day’ speech.
In a shock to the global economic market, the US president triggered a financial A-bomb with his series of levies, sparking a bloodbath in Asia as stocks plummeted.
Britain was slapped with a ‘reciprocal’ 10 per cent tariff on imports – on top of a 25 per cent surcharge on all car and steel imports, in a move that now puts tens of thousands of UK jobs at risk.
While the EU was hammered with a 20 per cent tax on its imports to the States – and global rival China was lumped with a staggering 54 per cent levy.
Talking to Derbyshire, Gorka insisted the UK should be grateful to receive one of the lowest tariff rates – despite the looming threat to the nation’s economy.
But the debate on the US-UK relationship soon blew up, with Gorka telling the veteran BBC presenter: ‘I find it strange that you’ve been afforded such an exceptional status and you’re complaining? I’m not sure I understand that.’
Derbyshire asked what the UK needed to do to get the tariffs cut, to which he said: ‘If you don’t discriminate against US goods, then the other partner – in which case the UK – will not have their goods discriminated against.
‘It’s very, very simple. A kindergartner should be able to get that.’
The controversial Trump ally – who was born in Britain and went to school in Ealing, west London – then quoted the bible, ‘do unto others as you would wish to have done unto yourself”, to explain the president’s dramatic plan to reset international trade.
‘Has President Trump just started a global trade war that will make everyone poorer?’ Derbyshire then asks.
Chuckling, Gorka says: ‘This zero-sum game thing is really quite amusing.
‘It’s not about trade wars. It’s about equitable relations for everyone’s exports. I don’t understand how this so difficult to understand.’
Smirking and leaning towards the camera, Gorka then appears to goad Derbyshire, asking: ‘Is this complicated for you?’
Brushing off the comment, the Derbyshire, 56, continues: ‘A research centre at Yale, the budget lab, found that tariffs at 20 per cent would cost, for example, US households up to $4,200 every year; winner of the Nobel memorial prize in economic sciences, Joseph Stiglitz, said “virtually all economists think that the impact of the tariffs will be very bad for America and the world – they will almost surely be inflationary“.’
‘Are they wrong,’ the journalist then coolly asks.
‘Are these the same experts that told us masks would save you from Covid and it didn’t come from a lab,’ Gorka retorts before Derbyshire attempts to cut him short, saying ‘OK, you don’t like them. Let me give you some more then.’
A visibly tetchy Gorka then speaks over the BBC star: ‘No, you’re doing it again. Stop. Let me respond or you don’t invite me on your show. It’s that simple. Can I respond?’
‘Go ahead,’ says Derbyshire.
‘Is this the same Yale that was sued because it was racist and it didn’t allow Asians who had the highest scores possible to actually become students there? Are we talking about “that” Yale per chance?
‘I don’t think I could give a fig for the “so-called experts” at racist institutions like Yale.’
Gorka’s comment, which had nothing to do with the tariff debate, was in reference to a lawsuit brought under the previous Trump administration against Yale University.
It accused the renowned college of illegally discriminating against white and Asian American applicants in its undergraduate admissions process.
However, the claim was thrown out by the US Department of Justice in February 2021, after it submitted a ‘notice of voluntary dismissal’.
‘The department will further review this matter through its administrative process,’ the spokesperson said at the time. ‘The lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice, meaning that neither the United States nor the court has made any final determination in this matter.’
The extraordinary exchange is not the first time Gorka has clashed with the British press.
In September he had his mic cut after calling former US president Joe Biden a ‘senile bag of oatmeal’, following a suspected assassination attempt on Mr Trump.
Following the failed assassination attempt, the White House said that both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were briefed on the incident, adding: ‘They are relieved to know that he is safe. They will be kept regularly updated by their team.’
But Gorka told Sky News’ Gillian Joseph he did not believe Biden and Harris were relieved to hear Mr Trump was safe, raging: ‘[Joe Biden] doesn’t even know what day of the week it is. He’s a senile bag of oatmeal.
‘These are the same people who called my former boss a threat to democracy and a wannabe dictator. They are part of the problem.
‘I reject everything that comes out of their mendacious mouths. They are absolute hacks and liars who hate America and my former boss, and anybody who believes in the idea of making America great again. Yes, they are liars.’
After verbally sparring with the host, he said before he was cut off: ‘Don’t invite me on your show, can you promise me that.’
