President Trump on Friday morning fumed at Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, urging the central bank board to wrest control from him after opting again to not lower interest rates this week.
“Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell, a stubborn MORON, must substantially lower interest rates, NOW. IF HE CONTINUES TO REFUSE, THE BOARD SHOULD ASSUME CONTROL, AND DO WHAT EVERYONE KNOWS HAS TO BE DONE!” the president said on Truth Social.
He later added, “STRONG DISSENTS ON FED BOARD. IT WILL ONLY GET STRONGER! ‘TOO LATE!’”
The president was referring to a vote by the Fed on Wednesday that kept short-term interest rates at a level of 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent but it included the first double dissent from Fed board officials in more than 30 years.
Vice Chair of Supervision Michelle Bowman and board Gov. Christopher Waller who are both in the running for Trump’s nomination to replace Powell when his term is up in May voted against keeping interest rates as is.
The president later on Friday morning continued to rage about the central bank’s decision as he has done in the past few months.
“Too Little, Too Late. Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell is a disaster. DROP THE RATE! The good news is that Tariffs are bringing Billions of Dollars into the USA!” Trump said on Truth Social.
Some bad news on the economy for Trump also dropped Friday morning with the July jobs report showing the labor market stalling. The U.S. added only 73,000 jobs in July and the unemployment rate stayed flat at 4.2 percent, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department.
The data also included staggering revisions for the months of May and June that showed about 250,000 fewer jobs were added to the non-farm sectors during those two months.
Trump has been lobbing criticisms at Powell for months over the Fed decision to keep interest rates as is, which Powell largely attributes to economic uncertainty in part due to Trump’s tariffs policy.
Trump last week had a fairly cordial meeting with Powell at the Federal Reserve headquarters to review the building’s ongoing renovation. He appeared to pressure off the idea of firing Powell but those tensions have since renewed after this week’s economic news.
