US President Donald Trump on Thursday increased pressure on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to reduce interest rates, in their first face-to-face meeting since Trump’s return to the White House in January.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump told Powell that keeping interest rates where they are was a “mistake,” and contended that high borrowing costs were putting the United States at an economic disadvantage to nations such as China. The meeting represented a dramatic intensification of Trump’s criticism of Powell, whom he originally nominated to head the independent central bank in 2017.
Trump has again and again gone after the Fed in recent months, blaming it for being too conservative in cutting rates a step he thinks is needed to boost economic growth.
As Trump made his pitch, Powell reaffirmed the Fed’s autonomy and evidence-driven approach. In a release from the central bank, the Fed stated that Powell “did not discuss his expectations for monetary policy,” but rather reaffirmed that choices would be made solely on the basis of arriving economic data and unvarnished analysis.
The discussion centered on major economic markers such as growth, jobs, and inflation. While Powell heard out the president, he remained resolute in the Fed’s adherence to being apolitical in its policy-making.
This meeting is the most recent in a chain of confrontations between Trump and Powell, which stretch back to the president’s initial term. Trump often took to social media during that period to assail Powell for his hesitancy to cut interest rates more sharply.
The meeting comes as White House and Federal Reserve tensions ratchet up amid economic uncertainty and political pressure ahead of crucial financial choices.
