European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde walked out during a speech by US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick at the World Economic Forum in Davos, considering his anti-European rhetoric inappropriate in the circumstances.
Lagarde said this in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
“The last speaker who simply attacked Europe, the right, the left and the center, I found excessive and completely unjustifiably offensive“, Lagarde said.
According to Bloomberg sources familiar with the matter, in his speech in Davos, Lutnick downplayed the importance of European economies and noted their lack of competitiveness, which caused discomfort among several Europeans in the audience.
Latnick's speech, which led to Lagarde's departure, took place on January 20 at a VIP event attended by more than 100 people. Latnick was the last speaker there. The agency specified that the American minister was seated in an "uncomfortable seat at the back of the room", while US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Blackrock Inc. CEO Larry Fink sat at the head table.