U.S. President Donald Trump urged Jerome Powell, Chair of the Federal Reserve (Fed), to lower interest rates, saying on the 17th (local time), "Powell's term needs to end quickly."
On that day, President Trump stated in a post on the social media platform Truth Social that "the Fed's Powell is always late with decisions and released another typical mess of a report yesterday."
Prior to this, Chair Powell, in a speech the day before at the Chicago Economic Club in Illinois, commented on President Trump’s tariff policy, noting that "the level of tariff increases is much higher than expected," adding that "the economic impact is likely to be similar, including rising inflation and slowing growth."
He further remarked that "we need to wait for clearer results before considering any adjustment to policy direction (interest rate cuts)." This implies an intention to delay any decision on interest rate cuts. The Fed has not lowered interest rates even once this year.
In response, President Trump noted that "the prices of oil and groceries (even eggs) have decreased, and the U.S. is becoming rich from tariffs," asserting that "the Fed should have lowered rates long ago like the European Central Bank (ECB)." He continued, saying, "He clearly needs to lower rates now."
President Trump stated, "Powell's term needs to expire quickly."
Chair Powell's term runs until May of next year. Previously, President Trump had already expressed a lack of confidence in Chair Powell several times. However, Powell has indicated that he does not intend to resign before his term expires.