Trump blasts Fed chair Powell and looks forward to his 'termination' [View all]

Source: Washington Post

April 17, 2025 at 8:33 a.m. EDT


President Donald Trump blasted the Federal Reserve for not lowering interest rates and said the central bank chair’s “termination cannot come fast enough,” ratcheting up the White House’s public pressure on the central bank.

The message, posted on Truth Social early Thursday, came one day after Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell warned that the administration’s trade war was “highly likely” to spur a temporary rise in inflation, with the potential for longer-lasting effects. Markets tanked on Powell’s remarks.

“Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete ‘mess!’” Trump wrote. Referring to interest rates, he added, “He should certainly lower them now. Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!”

The Fed closely guards its independence from politics so it can make decisions with the long-term health of the economy in mind. Trump has repeatedly called for the Fed to lower rates and signaled that he does not want Powell to continue as Fed chair. During his first term, Trump’s lawyers concluded that the president could not fire the Fed chief without cause, although a federal court recently gave Trump a partial win in his efforts to remove the leaders of two other independent agencies.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/04/17/trump-powell-rate-tariffs/

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Since everything else he has done was illegal - including firing "independent" members of various Boards, I am surprised he hasn't touched the guy who he appointed back during his first term. Maybe because Powell stood up to him very early on and did so in a way that apparently chilled him.