Trump pressures Fed to cut rates as new tariffs take effect
President Donald Trump urged the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday to cut interest rates to help offset effects of his tariffs, renewing his vocal disagreement with the central bank’s decision-making.
“Do the right thing,” Trump demanded in a Wednesday night post on his Truth Social site, hours after the Fed decided to hold rates steady, while reducing its growth forecast and hiking its inflation outlook.
The Federal Reserve has pencilled in two rate cuts this year, but chairman Jerome Powell noted that “uncertainty today is unusually elevated” and that inflation is ticking up.
Many economists have warned that the tariffs — which are being met with trade retaliation by some countries — threaten to possibly tip the US economy and others into recession.
Trump has admitted that the economy may suffer “a little disturbance” as his planned levies take hold, but that America is otherwise on the cusp of a “golden age”
In Wednesday’s message, he again stressed that April 2, when he plans to enact “reciprocal tariffs” designed to reset global trade, would be a “liberation day” for the US economy.
But he wants US interest rates to come down as well.
“The Fed would be MUCH better off CUTTING RATES as US Tariffs start to transition (ease!) their way into the economy,” he posted.
During his first term, Trump repeatedly expressed disagreement with the Fed’s rate decisions, urging them to be lowered to boost the economy.
AFP
