President Donald Trump continued his criticisms of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday but appeared resigned that he will have to wait until next May, when Powell’s second four-year term ends, to appoint a new chair.
Trump has been irate that the Fed has not lowered interest rates from its benchmark 4.25% to 4.5 % since he began his second term. He has called on Powell to resign and threatened to fire him.
During an Oval Office appearance with Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Trump was asked whether he thinks Powell should resign.
“No; I think he’s done a bad job, but he’s going to be out pretty soon anyway,” Trump said at an event that aired live on Newsmax and the Newsmax2 free online streaming platform. “In eight months, he’ll be out. But I call him ‘Too Late.’ He’s too late all the time. He should have lowered interest rates many times. Europe lowered their rate 10 times. We lowered ours none, and it’s causing a problem for people that want to buy a home.”
Powell, who was appointed Fed chair by Trump in 2018 and reappointed by former President Joe Biden in 2022, reiterated earlier this month the Fed plans to “wait and learn more” about the impact of tariffs on inflation before lowering interest rates.
“Look, our economy is so strong now. We’re blowing through everything. We’re setting records, you know that. You see that,” Trump said, looking at Marcos. “And whether it’s the Philippines or anyone else, we’re setting records at levels that nobody’s ever seen before. But you know what? People aren’t able to buy a house because this guy is a numbskull.”
“He keeps the rates too high and probably doing it for political reasons,” Trump added. “The only time I remember him cutting rates, I mean, he cut the rates just before the election to try and help [then-Vice President] Kamala [Harris] or whoever he was trying to help. He probably didn’t know.”
The Fed cut interest rates by a half-point in September, two months before the election, and a quarter-point each in November and December.
“You know, we should be at 1%,” Trump said. “We should be leading the world. Instead, we’re paying 4%. And if you look at what that means, that’s over $1 trillion in interest that we have to pay that with the striking of a pen, we would be saving more than $1 trillion.”
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