Trump Presses for World's Lowest Interest Rate Before Fed Meeting
Trump says the US should have the world's lowest interest rate, days before the Fed's policy meeting and after a rise in underlying inflation.
President Donald Trump said on Sunday that no country should have a lower interest rate than the United States, speaking days before the Federal Reserve's next policy meeting.
Talking to reporters at the Irish Open golf tournament, Trump said he did not know whether Fed policymakers would raise rates this week. He argued, however, that the US "should be paying the lowest interest rate in the world" regardless of what the central bank's data shows about inflation and the economy.
The Fed's meeting comes less than a week after the Labor Department's Consumer Price Index, a key measure of underlying inflation, recorded its largest increase in four months on Friday. That reading strengthened expectations that the central bank will raise rates.
The meeting also falls just weeks before midterm elections that will decide whether Republicans retain their slim majorities in both chambers of Congress. A rate hike could add to voter concerns about affordability, recent polling suggests.
Trump's approval ratings have declined as inflation has persisted. He has contended that the Fed's interest rate levels have benefited other countries at the expense of the US.
"I know more about formulas than anybody, and with the best credit in the world, we make other countries rich," Trump said on Sunday.
The president, who frequently criticised former Fed chair Jay Powell, has been more supportive of the Fed's leadership since his own pick for chair, Kevin Warsh, took charge earlier this year. But he has recently made his demands clearer.
"LOWER THE RATE OR I'LL STOP TRADING WITH COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE HAVE A DEFICIT," Trump posted on social media two weeks ago.
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told "Fox News Sunday" that Trump "will defend the independence of Kevin Warsh above all" regardless of what the Fed does with interest rates. Hassett also underscored Trump's own preferences, saying that "if it's a rate hike … I'm sure he's not going to be super happy about it."