President Trump turned up the pressure on Federal Reserve Jerome Powell again on Thursday, saying in a social media post that he should lower interest rates and that Powell’s “termination cannot come fast enough!”
The president’s comments posted to Truth Social came one day after Powell said the central bank will “wait for greater clarity” before considering any rate adjustments as he warned Trump’s tariffs would likely generate “higher inflation and slower growth.”
He predicted those twin developments could create a major dilemma for the Fed — which is obligated to keep prices stable while also maximizing employment.
“We may find ourselves in the challenging scenario in which our dual-mandate goals are in tension,” Powell said.
Trump certainly made Powell’s job more difficult this month as he unveiled the steepest tariffs in more than 100 years, before pausing some of them for 90 days.
The tariffs roiled markets and stoked new uncertainties about the direction of the US economy, putting pressure on the Fed to consider a rate cut as a way of preventing a downturn.
Trump on Thursday said Powell is “always TOO LATE AND WRONG” and “should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago,” referencing recent monetary policy easing on the part of the European Central Bank.
“He should certainly lower them now. Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!”
Powell’s time as chair expires in May 2026, and he has said he intends to serve out the entirety of his term. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier this week he expects to start interviewing Fed chair candidates in the fall of this year.
The Fed chair on Wednesday again reiterated the independence of his institution and his own job, saying it’s “a matter of law,” and pledged not to act in response to any political pressure.
He did discuss a case now before the Supreme Court that is testing Trump’s ability to remove board members at other independent agencies in Washington, D.C., a case that some Fed watchers worry could threaten Powell if the administration wins.
But Powell said, “I don’t think that’s a case that will apply to the Fed.” Nonetheless, the central bank is “monitoring it carefully.”
Trump started his second term in office by softening his criticisms of the Fed’s monetary policy decisions and even made it clear he didn’t intend to fire Powell, someone he criticized repeatedly during his first term.
Bessent and other Trump aides repeatedly stressed that the president was not focused on the Fed and was instead trying to bring down 10-year Treasury yields.