The Week: Trump Takes on the Fed

• Just to clarify, Mr. President: When we said we wanted lower prices, we weren’t talking about stocks.

• President Trump is criticizing Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell for waiting too long to cut interest rates, which suggests that he will replace Powell and possibly even try to do so before the latter’s term expires. But Powell is right on two points: inflation is not yet safely in the rearview mirror, and Trump’s tariffs will not only raise some prices but threaten to raise expected inflation in a way that could prove self-fulfilling. Trump’s sniping is making the problem more acute: if Powell were to cut interest rates now, markets and the public would have reason to conclude that they could not trust the Fed to stay vigilant against inflation. Trump should recall that the principal reason he sits in the White House is that the public dislikes inflation, not that it enjoys his caprice.

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• Just to clarify, Mr. President: When we said we wanted lower prices, we weren’t talking about stocks.

• President Trump is criticizing Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell for waiting too long to cut interest rates, which suggests that he will replace Powell and possibly even try to do so before the latter’s term expires. But Powell is right on two points: inflation is not yet safely in the rearview mirror, and Trump’s tariffs will not only raise some prices but threaten to raise expected inflation in a way that could prove self-fulfilling. Trump’s sniping is making the problem more acute: if Powell were to cut interest rates now, markets and the public would have reason to conclude that they could not trust the Fed to stay vigilant against inflation. Trump should recall that the principal reason he sits in the White House is that the public dislikes inflation, not that it enjoys his caprice.