Trump says he just can't get Fed Chair Jerome Powell to cut interest rates: 'I think he hates me'
The president insulted Powell anew and toyed with installing himself as Fed leader before the central bank again held rates steady
President Donald Trump outside the White House. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump is still fed up with the Federal Reserve for not bending to his longstanding and extraordinary pressure campaign.
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Ahead of the central bank's latest decision on interest rates, Trump on Wednesday renewed his barrage of attacks against Fed Chair Jerome Powell. He insulted Powell and toyed with the idea of installing himself as Fed Chair. He also said that if he were in the position, he would lower interest rates by 2.5 percentage points.
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"We have a stupid person, frankly, at the Fed. He probably won't cut today. ... Maybe I should go to the Fed. Am I allowed to appoint myself at the Fed?" Trump said outside the White House.
Trump continued his freewheeling remarks and said nothing he's done to pressure the central bank has been successful at getting it to lower interest rates. "Now we have a man that just refuses to lower the Fed rate, just refuses to do it," he said. "He's not a smart person. I don't even think he's that political. I think he hates me, but that's okay."
Trump continued: "He should, I call him every name in the book trying to get him to do something. I've been nice to him. I do it every way in the book. I'm nasty, I'm nice. Nothing works. He's like a stupid person."
The Federal Reserve did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Few are expecting an interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve as it wraps up its two-day meeting. The Fed is sitting tight at the moment to better measure the effect of Trump's policies — including the armada of tariffs he's deployed — on the U.S. economy before deciding to lower interest rates. Inflation is still above the Fed's 2% target. The central bank operates independently.
Trump first nominated Powell to the position in 2017. Powell visited Trump at the White House's request last month in a rare meeting. In a statement following the meeting, the Fed said Powell didn't discuss specifics on monetary policy "except to stress that the path of policy will depend entirely on incoming economic information and what that means for the outlook."