President Trump’s top economic adviser said Tuesday that U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley “got ahead of the curve” when she announced fresh sanctions against Russia over the weekend.
“I think the issue here is we have a set of sanctions, and additional sanctions are under consideration but have not been determined,” National Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow told reporters in Palm Beach, Fla.
During a Sunday morning appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Haley said Treasury officials were planning to formalize new sanctions on Monday.
“You will see that Russian sanctions will be coming down. Secretary Mnuchin will be announcing those on Monday, if he hasn’t already,” Haley had said.
Several outlets later reported that Trump had not yet signed off on the move, and was furious that such an announcement was made ahead of his approval.
“She got ahead of the curve,” Kudlow said of Haley. “She’s done a great job. She’s been a great ambassador, but there might have been some momentary confusion about that.”
The president has reportedly expressed frustration over his administration’s expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats from the U.S. earlier this month in response to a nerve-agent attack in London. Trump was unhappy that European allies expelled far fewer diplomats than the number he ordered after meeting with advisers, the Washington Post reported Monday.
