AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell faces off with President Donald Trump.
- President Donald Trump again slammed the Federal Reserve on Friday for its policy decisions, saying there was a "faulty thought process" going on there.
- That marked the latest broadside on the independent central bank, adding to an unprecedented campaign as his 2020 reelection campaign heats up.
- The president has separately attempted to install political allies at the top of the central bank and suggested the US artificially weaken the dollar.
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President Donald Trump again slammed the Federal Reserve on Friday for its policy decisions, adding to an unprecedented amount of pressure on the independent central bank as his 2020 reelection campaign heats up.
"We are in a World competition, & winning big,.......but it is no thanks to the Federal Reserve. Had they not acted so fast and 'so much,' we would be doing even better than we are doing right now," the president wrote on Twitter. "This is our chance to build unparalleled wealth and success for the U.S., GROWTH, which would greatly reduce % debt. Don't blow it!"
The tweet was just the latest in a long string of broadsides Trump has aimed at the Federal Reserve in recent months. Eyeing the 2020 elections as the economy slows, he has increasingly sought to influence interest rate decisions there.
"Because of the faulty thought process we have going for us at the Federal Reserve, we pay much higher interest rates than countries that are no match for us economically," Trump tweeted less than an hour earlier on Friday. "In other words, our interest costs are much higher than other countries, when they should be lower. Correct!"
Bloomberg reported last month that the White House looked into whether it could demote Jerome Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve and a frequent subject of Trump's ire. The president has separately attempted to install political allies at the top of the central bank and suggested the US artificially weaken the dollar.
Policymakers are expected to lower interest rates at the end of a two-day meeting on July 31, but forecasters are split on how large the adjustment will be. Policymakers are weighing strains on the economy - including Trump's ongoing trade wars and below-target inflation against - against otherwise solid growth.
Trump also critiqued recent comments from John Williams, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, on Friday. Williams had sent strong signals that policymakers would aggressively lower interest rates this month, but the central bank later downplayed his statements.
"I like New York Fed President John Williams first statement much better than his second," Trump said on Twitter. "His first statement is 100% correct in that the Fed 'raised' far too fast & too early. Also must stop with the crazy quantitative tightening."
The Federal Reserve was designed to operate independent of political influence. But Trump has suggested he would rather the US central bank operate like that of the Chinese Communist Party, saying in a CNBC interview last month that President Xi Jinping is "his own Fed."