Trump Says Powell’s Job Is Safe But Fed Should Lower Rates
Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked the Fed since mid-2018, demanding lower rates to help boost economic growth.
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump said Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s job is safe despite his criticism that the central bank hasn’t cut interest rates enough.
“It’s safe. Yeah, it’s safe. Sure, why not?” Trump said in a taped interview with Fox News that was aired Thursday morning.
The Fed on Wednesday cut interest rates for the second time since July, but only by a quarter point, which Trump said wasn’t enough given that other central banks have cut rates more dramatically.
“I’m very disappointed in him,” Trump said in Fox interview. “I don’t think he knows how to play the game well.”
The president has repeatedly attacked the Fed since mid-2018, demanding lower rates to help boost economic growth. At one point he asked whether Powell or China’s president, Xi Jinping, was “our bigger enemy.
Read more: Key Trump Quotes on Powell as Fed Remains in the Firing Line
To contact the reporter on this story: Kathleen Hunter in London at khunter9@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alister Bull at abull7@bloomberg.net, ;Craig Gordon at cgordon39@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth Wasserman, Kasia Klimasinska
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.