Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss claimed that the United States and the United Kingdom are heading in the wrong direction regarding economics and "wokeism" on Wednesday.
Truss said although the relationship between the countries remains strong, both need to do more to address certain threats to the culture of the countries, including combating liberal ideas that have crept into media, schools, and the governments.
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"I think we need to deal with the way capitalism has gone off course," Truss told the Washington Examiner.
"There's too much focus on tick boxing rather than actually delivering growth and opportunities, which is what most people in our countries want. We've allowed the Left to dominate parts of the media, dominate universities, dominate the institutions, and we need to have a conservative fight back. We have to be prepared to take on the Left and be brave about it."
Truss added that both countries need to get back to their core values and ideas, including personal freedom and democracy.
"Anglo-American ideas have fueled the world prosperity, and the winning of the Cold War was down to the fact that we believe in free enterprise, democracy, and personal freedom," Truss said. "What I worry about is that since the end of the Cold War, those values have been more and more challenged, and authoritarian regimes are becoming more and more bold."
The former prime minister, whose tenure in office lasted less than 50 days due to her failure to follow through on her economy-focused campaign promises, according to Time, also said both countries were moving in the wrong direction economically.
Truss pushed for more free trade between the U.K. and the U.S., claiming it would make both economies stronger, and she urged the U.S. to return to a smaller federal government, which she argued would benefit the American taxpayer.
"What I want to see is a move to smaller government and lower tax policies, and that isn't heading in the right direction," Truss said.
"At the turn of the century, the U.S. had 29% of its [gross domestic product] spent by the government. That is now 36%. You've got the Inflation Reduction Act, which is an additional $400 billion on the U.S. taxpayer. That, to me, is headed in the wrong direction. That's not what [you] should be doing. I'd love to see the U.S. in the next presidential race be about those issues and about how the U.S. gets its economic mojo going."
Truss added that Florida and Texas were strong examples of states moving in the "right" direction but encouraged it even more on the federal level.
The former British leader also touted economic success as the reason the West beat the Soviet Union in the Cold War. She said it was the way to beat Russia again amid its war in Ukraine.
"The reason we won [the Cold War] is because we had successful economies that were outperforming the USSR," Truss said. "In order to win the new battle, which is between authoritarian regimes and free democracies, we need to show our economic model is better, and we're not doing that enough at the moment."
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Truss's comments came during a visit to Washington, D.C., where she delivered an address at the Heritage Foundation on Wednesday. During the speech, Truss homed in on both countries' places on the global stage and the growing threat of China amid its aggression toward Taiwan. Truss said asking Chinese President Xi Jinping for help ending the war in Ukraine was a "sign of weakness."
Truss, who was elected prime minister last summer, is the country's shortest-reigning political leader in history. She resigned after economic turmoil erupted in the country due to a lack of clarity on the funding for the tax cuts she outlined in her mini-budget proposal. Rishi Sunak was elected in her place.