Calling Powell “Mr. Too Late” and a “Great Loser”, Trump published on social networks that inflation is under control and demanded quick rates reductions. | Photo credit: Carlos Barria/Reuters/File photo
President Donald Trump warned that the economy of the United States can decelerate if the Federal Reserve does not move to immediately reduce interest rates, on its last side of the president of the Fed, Jerome Powell.
Trump said in a publication on social networks on Monday that “there is no virtues inflation,” noting that the lower energy and food prices.
“But there may be a slowdown from the economy unless Mr. Too Late, a great loser, reduces interest rates, now,” Trump said, referring to Powell.
Economists expect widely that Trump’s tariffs increase inflation and slow growth, even if only temporarily. While inflation has cooled significantly in recent years, it is still high. Powell, along with several of his colleagues, has underlined the Central Bank must ensure that the new levies do not lead to a more persistent inflation attack.
Trump has shaken Wall Street repeatedly criticizing Powell and suggested that he had the ability to remove the fed chair before the end of his mandate. The US shares.
Trump has privately asked his advisors about the possibility of eliminating Powell, while some administration officials have warned him not to do so, according to people familiar with the matter. The director of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hasett, on Friday told journalists that the president was studying the issue of what Powell can say goodbye.
While the US economy grew to a healthy clip last year, at a rate of 2.4% in the fourth quarter, economists see a fall induced by the tariff in business investment and consumption that drives a slowdown at the end of this year. Meanwhile, the progress in the cooling of inflation to the objective of 2% of the Fed had stagnated, but prices growth slowed down again in March, and the consumer price index increased 2.4% compared to the previous year.
That cooling last month led some Fed observers, and Trump, to renew the calls so that the Central Bank accelerates to interest rates to get ahead of any deceleration in growth.
The president unleashed a diatribe against Powell last week just before the European Central Bank reduced its reference rate in a quarter to 2.25%. The president of the United States repeatedly complained that the Fed was not reducing interest rates quick enough.
But the policy formulators in the euro zone are dealing with a low growth. Inflation is also on a much clearer path towards the goal of 2% of the ECB, giving them the space for more lower rates. In the United States, Fed officials are concerned about the slow pace of disinflation and many concern tariffs could revive price pressures.
The president’s comments occur when central bankers and economic policy formulators will meet in Washington this week for the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings.
“I’m not happy with him. I let him know. And Oh, if I want it, he will be out of there very fast, believe me,” Trump told reporters a meeting with the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
In a speech last week at the Chicago Economic Club, Powell said the Fed should surely unleash a continuous inflation problem. He added that prices stability is essential to achieve a strong labor market. The Chief of the Fed, together with his colleagues, have said officials because to expect greater clarity on the economic impact of several changes in government policies before adjusting the costs of loans.
Powell also pointed out that the independence of the Central Bank “is a matter of law” and that “we are not removable except the cause.”
More stories like this are notable on Bloomberg.com
More like this
Posted on April 22, 2025