Trump meets Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell, steps up call for US rate cuts
The president said in the meeting that keeping rates high was putting the US at an economic disadvantage to other countries, including China
US President Donald Trump on Thursday stepped up the pressure on Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell to cut interest rates, in their first sit-down since the Republican returned to the White House in January.
Trump has in recent months trained his fire on the Fed chair – whom he first nominated to lead the independent central bank back in 2017 – accusing him of being “too slow” to cut rates to boost economic growth.
Powell and his colleagues on the Fed’s rate-setting committee have insisted they will only cut rates from current levels when economic conditions allow.
Trump told Powell that he was “making a mistake by not lowering interest rates”, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a press briefing after the meeting.
Trump also said in the meeting that holding interest rates high was putting the United States at an “economic disadvantage” to other countries, including China, Leavitt said.
Earlier on Thursday, the Fed said Powell had defended US central bank independence over interest rates during the unusual meeting, which Trump had called to discuss “economic developments including for growth, employment, and inflation”.