US President Trump repeats call for Fed to lower interest rates
US President Donald Trump on Friday lobbed another attack on the Federal Reserve, accusing it of incompetence for failing to stimulate the economy. "We don't have a Fed that knows what it's doing," Trump said. The president kept up his demand that the Fed lower interest rates, saying this would boost the economy "like a rocket ship."
- Economy
- Reuters
- Published Date: 07:13 | 05 July 2019
- Modified Date: 07:14 | 05 July 2019
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday repeated his call for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, saying that such a step would further boost the economy.
In comments made to reporters outside the White House, Trump also touted the country's low unemployment rate of 3.7% and the 224,000 jobs added last month, in figures released by the Labor Department on Friday.
Trump has repeatedly railed against the central bank for hiking interest rates and against the Fed's chairman, Jerome Powell, whom Trump nominated, in particular.
Fed officials, in turn, have argued that last year's rate hikes were a proper precaution against inflation or financial sector bubbles.
But Fed officials' sentiment began shifting in May, amid concerns that Trump's trade policy was beginning to undermine economic sentiment, business investment and growth.
Fed officials are poised to cut rates by as much as half a percentage point by the end of the year.