President Donald Trump suggested appointing himself as the Federal Reserve chairman after he criticized the Fed for not lowering interest rates.
Trump spoke to reporters on Wednesday as a flag pole was installed on the South Lawn of the White House, where he ripped Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell ahead of the Fed’s meeting on Wednesday. The Fed is expected to keep their interest rate at about 4.3% despite Trump urging Powell to lower it.
“So we have a stupid person, frankly, at the Fed, he probably won’t cut today. Europe had 10 cuts, and we had none. And I guess he’s a political guy. I don’t know. He’s a political guy who’s not a smart person, but he’s costing the country a fortune,” Trump said, speaking of Powell.
Trump nominated Powell to the position during his first term, but said Wednesday that he would not have reappointed him again. Trump said he calls the Fed chairman “Too Late Powell,” because of his hesitancy to back lowering interest rates.
Trump then floated himself to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve.
“Maybe I should go to the Fed. Am I allowed to appoint myself, Doug? I don’t know. Am I allowed to appoint myself at the Fed? I do a much better job than these people,” Trump said.
Despite inflation cooling in recent months, the Fed has kept the rate the same largely due to the uncertainty of Trump’s tariffs. Trump continued to rail against Powell in his comments to reporters as he complained about the high interest rates.
“But now we have a man that just refuses to lower the Fed rate, just refuses to do it, and he’s not a smart person. I don’t even think he’s that political. I think he hates me, but that’s OK, you know. He should. I call him every name in the book trying to get him to do something,” Trump said.
“I do it every way in the book. I’m nasty, I’m nice. Nothing works. He’s like just a stupid person,” he added.
One of Trump’s complaints is that the Fed isn’t cutting rates even as other central banks around the world have reduced their borrowing costs, including in Europe, Canada, and the U.K. On Tuesday, the Bank of Japan kept its key short-term rate unchanged at 0.5%, after actually raising it recently.
But the European Central Bank, Bank of Canada, and Bank of England have reduced their rates this year in part because U.S. tariffs are weakening their economies. So far the U.S. economy is mostly solid, with the unemployment rate low.
The Bank of England has cut its rate twice this year but is expected to keep it unchanged at 4.25% when it meets Thursday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Stories by Lauren Sforza
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