Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate August 8, 2024 in Palm Beach, Florida.
Joe Raedle |
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Thursday that he should have a say in the Federal Reserve's interest rate decisions.
“I believe the President should at least [a] “I have something to say about that,” Trump said during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. “Yes, that's very important to me. I think in my case, I've made a lot of money, I've been very successful and I think I have better instincts than a lot of other people who are at the Federal Reserve or chair.”
The comments appear to confirm reports in the Wall Street Journal and other media outlets earlier this year that advisers close to the former president are considering a series of changes at the Federal Reserve if he is elected in November.
Ideas being floated include forcing the Fed to consult the president on interest rate decisions. Other ideas include requiring the central bank to bypass the White House on regulatory changes and using the Treasury Department as a watchdog for Fed actions.
During his term in office from 2017 to 2021, President Trump was a sharp critic of Chairman Jerome Powell, whom Trump appointed in 2018.
“Well, look, the Federal Reserve is a very interesting thing. They've kind of got it wrong a lot of times, and they tend to do things a little too late,” Trump said of Powell and his colleagues. Powell “comes a little too early and a little too late. And, you know, that's largely a gut feeling. I think it's really a gut feeling. And I've always argued with him.”
Fed officials often emphasize the importance of the central bank's independence from political influence, and Powell has repeatedly stated that criticism from Trump or other Fed officials has no influence on monetary policy decisions.
Trump's Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, believes the Fed should make its decisions independently of the president's influence, an aide to the Democrat told CNBC on Friday.
Trump, for his part, insisted that he and Powell “get along well,” even as his team is considering, among other things, firing Powell or at least not reappointing him after his term as chairman expires in 2026.
The Fed was criticized for waiting too long to raise interest rates when inflation began to rise in 2021, and is now facing the same criticism for failing to cut rates even as inflation rates have steadily declined.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (Democrat of Massachusetts), for example, repeatedly called on the Fed to lower interest rates.
To reduce inflation, the Fed raised the benchmark interest rate by 5.25 percentage points from March 2022 to July 2023. Markets generally expect the central bank to start cutting rates in September. Trump generally supports lower interest rates and has frequently criticized the Fed for its rate hikes in 2018.
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