The artist who painted US President Donald Trump in what he criticized as a “purposefully distorted” portrait has said his remarks have harmed her business.

Colorado removed the official portrait of Trump from display in the state’s capitol building last month after the president complained that it was deliberately unflattering.

“Nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves, but the one in Colorado, in the State Capitol… along with all other Presidents, was purposefully distorted,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on March 24.

“The artist also did President Obama, and he looks wonderful, but the one on me is truly the worst,” Trump said.

The 78-year-old Republican called for the oil painting to be taken down, and said the artist, Sarah Boardman, “must have lost her talent as she got older.”

The Democrat-controlled Colorado legislature said the same day as Trump’s complaint that the painting would be removed from the gallery in the capitol’s rotunda — where it had been hung since 2019 — and placed in storage.

Boardman has responded to Trump’s critique in a statement on her website, saying she completed the work “accurately, without ‘purposeful distortion,’ political bias, or any attempt to caricature the subject, actual or implied.”

“President Trump is entitled to comment freely, as we all are, but the additional allegations that I ‘purposefully distorted’ the portrait, and that I ‘must have lost my talent as I got older’ are now directly and negatively impacting my business of over 41 years,” the British-born artist said.

Boardman added in the undated statement that for the six years that the portrait of Trump hung in the Colorado capitol, she “received overwhelmingly positive reviews” on the commissioned work.

However, since Trump’s comments “that has changed for the worst,” she said.

In addition to Trump and former president Barack Obama, Boardman was also commissioned to paint a portrait of ex-president George W. Bush.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday struck a defiant tone in the face of global financial markets selling off sharply in response to new US tariffs, arguing the new duties were necessary and rejecting the idea that they would cause a US recession. 

“I see no reason that we have to price in a recession,” Bessent told NBC’s Meet the Press with Kristen Welker. 

Bessent gave no indication that President Donald Trump was willing to back down on the sweeping new tariffs he introduced last week. He said more than 50 countries had called the administration seeking negotiations, but any talks are going to take time. 

From the US perspective, other countries “have been bad actors for a long time,” Bessent said, adding that the issues could not be negotiated away in a matter of days or weeks. 

“We’re going to have to see what the countries offer and if it’s believable,” he said. “I think we are going to have to see the path forward.” 

He added, “After decades of “bad behavior you can’t just wipe the slate clean.” 

Bessent’s efforts to calm the markets came the day after an additional 10% duty on all US imports went into effect Saturday. Additional tailored tariffs of up to 50% are due to go into effect on imports from roughly 60 countries on Wednesday. 

The announced tariffs will take US import taxes to their highest level in more than a century and have prompted widespread downgrades in growth expectations for the US and global economies. Economists at JPMorgan on Friday said they now expect the US to slip into a recession this year. 

Trump, who has spent the weekend fielding phone calls and competing in the club championship at his Florida golf club, has said he wants to reshape the global economy in America’s advantage. He argues that the tariffs will bring a wave of new investments as companies build new factories in  the US, bringing jobs and wealth home to the US. 

The main target of his ire is a US trade deficit in goods that topped $1 trillion last year. In the past two trading days US equities lost $5 trillion in value as investors sold off stocks in anticipation of a US and global economic slowdown.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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