Trump wants to be able to speak to Fed decisions.
Trump is not satisfied with the Fed's course. The former president criticizes the U.S. central bank for repeatedly making wrong decisions. If re-elected, he demands at least a say in monetary policy.
The former U.S. President Donald Trump wants to have influence on the course of the Federal Reserve (Fed) if he returns to the White House. "I think the President should at least have a say" in monetary policy, Trump said at a press conference on Thursday. He criticized that the independent U.S. central bank had repeatedly made wrong decisions.
The Fed "has been wrong a lot," the Republican presidential candidate said during his appearance before journalists at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The real estate mogul said, "I've made a lot of money, I've been very successful, and I think I have a better instinct than - in many cases - people who sit on the Federal Reserve or its chairman." Trump complained that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell often acts "too early" or "too late."
In previous years, the former president had also repeatedly expressed frustration and criticism of the Fed and Powell. The Fed chair, who has been in office since 2018 and was nominated by Trump himself, is not expected to have his term extended by Trump if he is re-elected. The Republican suspects that Powell sympathizes with the Democratic Party of President Joe Biden and his now-nominated vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Trump accuses Powell of supporting the Democrats
In a February interview with Fox Business, Trump said Powell was seeking a rate cut before the November election "to help the Democrats." Powell, for his part, said in late July that the Fed would never use its tools to support or fight a party or politician. "We would never try to make decisions based on the outcome of an election that hasn't happened yet," he said. This is a line "we would never cross."
The Fed has raised interest rates multiple times since March 2022 in its fight against inflation. In July 2023, the central bank left the target range for the federal funds rate unchanged at 5.25 to 5.5 percent, its highest level since 1995. While the Fed has hinted at rate cuts this year, it has not yet implemented them.
If re-elected in 2024, Trump asserts his desire to have a say in the US presidential election of 2024's monetary policy, stating his belief that the president should hold some influence over the Fed's decisions. Trump's criticism of the Fed's performance in the past continues, accusing Fed Chairman Jerome Powell of potentially supporting the Democratic Party to benefit the November election.
