U.S. President Donald Trump criticized Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve (Fed), the Central Bank of the United States, urging for a cut in the benchmark interest rate.
On this day, President Trump met with reporters at the White House and said, "Honestly, there is a stupid person at the Fed. He probably won't lower the (benchmark interest rate) today," adding, "Europe has lowered it 10 times, but we haven't done it even once."
He criticized Chair Powell as "not a smart person," "a political person," and "a shame." He added, "Maybe I should go to the Fed. Can I nominate myself as the Fed chair?" stating, "I could do much better than these people."
President Trump remarked, "What I should do is that he has to retire in about 9 months. Luckily, he will be ousted," and mentioned, "(Former President) Biden reappointed him. I don't know the reason, but it might be because he was a Democrat."
On the day of the Fed's benchmark interest rate decision, President Trump reiterated the need for a rate cut directed at Chair Powell. There is a prevailing forecast that the Fed will maintain the benchmark interest rate between 4.25% and 4.50%.
President Trump asserted, "We need to lower it by another 2 points. It would be even better if we lowered it by 2.5 points," claiming, "We could save $800 billion (approximately 1.1 trillion won) and $700 billion (approximately 960 trillion won)."
He added, "If he (Powell) is worried about inflation, I understand. But I don't think there will be inflation. So far, there hasn't been, and we hardly have any inflation."