Jerome Powell has said that the Federal Reserve can be patient as the effects of tariffs become more clear. President Trump, pushing for interest rate cuts, said, “Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!”The New York Times reports that President Trump intensified his ongoing criticism of the Federal Reserve on Thursday, targeting the head of the central bank, Jerome H. Powell, for not doing enough to strengthen the economy as the effects of tariffs begin to take hold. The president has consistently attempted to exert influence over the politically independent Fed, frequently attacking Powell for keeping interest rates higher than he would like. In a tweet that quickly spread throughout Washington and Wall Street, Trump once again took aim at Powell, stating, “Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!” Later in the day, the president continued his assault, accusing Powell of “playing politics” and asserting that he could remove him from his position if he desired. These comments came just one day after Powell warned that the president’s tariffs could create a “challenging scenario” by potentially conflicting with the Fed’s goals of maintaining stable inflation and a strong labor market. Powell has maintained that the Fed must exercise patience when it comes to adjusting interest rates, in order to fully assess the impact of Trump’s policies on the economy. However, the president has been pushing for rate cuts since his return to the White House, and the Fed has only lowered rates once in December and kept them steady for the first two meetings of this year. The next meeting is scheduled for early May, and traders are expecting rates to remain unchanged.
Source:Read More