- President Donald Trump may have no intention of letting Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell go, but that doesn’t mean he’ll let up on the criticism. The president still wants lower interest rates, but the Fed is pretty much stuck, and data released Wednesday isn’t making the central bank’s job any easier.
The president rarely misses a chance to call out the head of the central bank.
“I have a Fed person who is not really doing a good job,” President Donald Trump declared during a rally in Michigan on Tuesday, alluding to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
“You’re not supposed to criticize the Fed,” Trump later said. “You’re supposed to let him do his own thing, but I know much more than he does about interest rates.”
While Trump may have no intention of firing Powell, he still isn’t a fan and likely won’t let up on the criticism. In an interview with ABC News the same day, Trump said interest rates should be lower than what they are, but the central bank wants to be stubborn and cute.
The president’s comments come after a whirlwind of social media posts where he claimed Powell’s termination couldn’t come fast enough (but then walked that back after it prompted discussions on whether he could actually fire the Fed chair, which didn’t bode well for stocks), and told Powell to lower interest rates to keep the economy from slowing since inflation cooled. Trump also called Powell “Mr. Too Late” and “a major loser.” The two have clashed before, not long after Trump nominated Powell in 2017.
The Fed is in a tough spot, not only because the president is pressuring it to cut interest rates, but because the central bank is in somewhat uncharted territory. Once Trump unveiled his sweeping tariff regimen on so-called Liberation Day, the stock market spiraled and chaos ensued in the bond market; it sparked recession calls, predictions of an economic slowdown, and inflation fears. While Trump put some tariffs on ice and markets calmed, there is still uncertainty. Powell said tariffs could induce inflation and slow the economy, so the Fed is in wait-and-see mode until further notice. Stagflation, a mix of the two, would be the worst-case scenario, which Powell called a challenging one. If the Fed cuts interest rates, inflation could come roaring back, but if it doesn’t the economy could plunge into recession.
The economy contracted in the first three months of the year, gross domestic product data out Wednesday revealed, because companies were stocking up ahead of the Trump tariff rollout. The GDP drop may not be as bad as it seems because it doesn’t signal economic damage yet, but stocks plummeted on the news. Plus, it only makes the Fed’s job—to pursue stable prices and maximum employment—harder.
“Even if today’s weak GDP may have partially reflected companies trying to get ahead of tariffs, it was still a stagflation warning shot over the bow of the economy,” Ellen Zentner, chief economic strategist for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, said in a statement. “This type of data won’t soothe the markets, and it won’t make the Fed’s job any easier.”
