President Donald Trump is looking forward to the day Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell it out of a job.
Trump criticized Powell’s negative evaluation of his sweeping global tariff policy in a social media post Thursday morning and suggested the Federal Reserve is not acting quick enough to lower interest rates, unlike its European counterpart.
“Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete “mess!” Trump wrote.
“Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!”
Trump’s comments come after Powell said Wednesday that Trump’s tariff increases were larger than anticipated and could inflict significant economic damage.
“We may find ourselves in the challenging scenario in which our dual-mandate goals are in tension,” Powell said during an address at the Economic Club of Chicago.
“If that were to occur, we would consider how far the economy is from each goal, and the potentially different time horizons over which those respective gaps would be anticipated to close.”
The European Central Bank cut interest rates Thursday for the 7th time in a row to spur economic growth in response to Trump’s looming tariffs.
Powell said the Federal Reserve’s best course of action for the time being is to stay put until the economic impact of Trump’s policies becomes clear. Trump’s tariffs are expected to noticeably increase consumer prices and slow down economic growth.
Trump announced his sweeping global tariff regime earlier this month, with a 10 percent minimum tariff and much higher rates on many nations depending on their trade balance with the U.S., including American allies worldwide. The tariffs caused a panic on Wall Street and saw the worst stock market downturns since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic over five years ago.
With the markets in free fall, Trump temporarily paused most of the tariffs for 90 days as the U.S. attempts to negotiate trade deals. He kept in place U.S. tariffs on China, which Trump has increased to 145 percent after tit-for-tat escalations between the world’s largest economies.
Addressing the anticipated pressure from the White House, Powell said Wednesday that the Fed’s independence is “a matter of law” and “very widely understood and supported in Washington and in Congress where it really matters.”
“People can say whatever they want. That’s fine. That’s not a problem, but we will do what we do strictly without consideration of political or any other extraneous factors,” he continued.
The Federal Reserve is tasked with keeping unemployment low and inflation in check. It is intended to operate independently of political pressures, relying instead on economic analysis and expertise.
The central bank rose interest rates significantly under President Joe Biden to help combat inflation levels not seen in four decades. Last year, the Fed reduced interest rates several times to adjust for the decline in inflation at the end of Biden’s term, putting U.S. interest rates at 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent.
President Trump originally picked Powell to run the Fed and he assumed the role in February 2018. A steady hand with bipartisan support, Powell remained Fed chair under Biden and his term runs through May 2026.
Although Trump threatened to fire Powell several times in his previous term, the president told NBC News in December that he would not remove the even-keeled central banker before his term expires. Powell was a longtime private equity executive and worked in the Treasury Department in former President George H.W. Bush’s administration.