Raphael Johnson
US President Donald Trump on Thursday called Fed Chair Jerome Powell a “fool” after the central bank announced another pause in rate cuts and warned of higher risks to inflation and unemployment goals.
Too Late’ Jerome Powell is a FOOL, who doesn’t have a clue,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network, in a fresh attack on the head of the independent Federal Reserve.The Fed said Wednesday that policymakers had voted unanimously to hold the US central bank’s key lending rate at between 4.25 percent and 4.50 percent.
Speaking to reporters after the decision was published, Powell said there was “a great deal of uncertainty” about where the Trump administration’s tariff policies will end up.Many analysts have warned that the government’s actions will likely push up inflation and unemployment, while slowing growth — at least in the short run.
But Trump claimed in his Truth Social post that there was “virtually NO INFLATION” and said “almost all costs” were down.He has piled pressure on Powell in particular over rates decisions, last month calling him a “major loser” and insisting he could force out the head of the bank, before walking back his comments.The Federal Reserve has a dual mandate to act independently to tackle inflation and unemployment, primarily by hiking, holding, or easing its benchmark lending rate.
An upbeat Powell told Wednesday’s news conference that criticism from Trump “doesn’t affect doing our job at all.”He added: “We are always going to consider only the economic data, the outlook, the balance of risks, and that’s it.”This hardline stance by Powell on policies contrary to the President’s position has further drawn the attention of many to the deep democratic ethos in the United States where the head of an agency could the number one citizen in a key decision that could cost him his job elsewhere.