Theresa May launches stinging attack on Donald Trump in United Nations speech, by Ben Glaze.

Theresa May tonight launched a stinging attack on Donald Trump minutes before a face-to-face meeting with the US President.

The Prime Minister railed against his decision to pull America out of the Paris climate change deal and blasted nations which erect trade barriers and pursue protectionism.

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Mrs May issued slap downs to Mr Trump, Russian president Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.

Leaders who fail to respect international agreements risk jeopardising faith in institutions, she warned.

Delivering a thinly-veiled rebuke to the US President, she said climate change “is depleting and degrading the planet we leave to our children”.

And the PM hit out at countries which try to stifle global trade, after Mr Trump’s “America first” inauguration speech in January.

She warned against moves which “undermine support for the forces of liberalism and free trade that have done so much to propel global growth”.

Yesterday’s woman perhaps.

Obviously free trade is better, but the US has a special problem because it issues the world’s reserve currency. Demand for the USD outside the US raises its value above where it would otherwise be. This puts US companies at a special disadvantage when competing against non-US companies, both in the US and worldwide.

The beneficiaries of the higher value of the USD are, especially, the financial classes in the US (who manufacture and handle the US dollars), and US consumers (who can buy non-US goods and services more cheaply). The losers are US workers, who lose jobs and have lower wages because their currency is higher than it would otherwise be. The winners are mainly in the establishment, while the losers tend to be deplorables.

Embarrassment as Theresa May delivers speech to mostly empty United Nations General Assembly. Boring.