President Donald Trump has said that his litmus test for the new Federal Reserve chair will be for the new appointee to lower the interest rates immediately upon taking the role. The president has been pushing for Fed Chair Jerome Powell to lower the interest rates for the better part of 2025.
Trump was asked in an interview with Politico, “Is it a litmus test that the new Fed chair lower interest rates immediately?”
The president answered, “Yes. This guy [Powell] should too. I think he’s a combination of not a smart person and doesn’t like Trump.”
“The reason he doesn’t like Trump is because I hit him hard, because he’s doing a bad job,” the president added. “We’re fighting through interest rates. Look, he’s a negative. But this country is doing so well. Again, we have $18 trillion being invested. Car companies are moving back that left us years ago. AI is coming in at levels never seen before. Factories are opening up all over the country, $18 trillion of investment in the United States.”
Powell is leaving the post next year, and the president has been pushing him to cut rates in an effort to get more liquidity into the US economy. However, out of fears of inflation, Powell has yet to cut interest rates.
The president was also asked in the interview about tariff policy, and if he would consider more carve-outs for tariffs. He said that he may consider lowering tariffs on some goods as well as increasing them on others. Trump pointed to car companies establishing manufacturing in the US as evidence for success regarding his tariff policies.
