President Donald Trump took another shot at Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday.
“Mortgage rates are actually down slightly, even though I have a guy in the Fed that I’m not a huge fan of. But that’s all right, these are minor details. Don’t tell him I said that, please,” Trump said of Powell during a speech at the White House.
Trump was speaking to business leaders, where he thanked them for making investments to manufacture their products in the US. In his speech, Trump repeated his long-standing criticisms of Powell by honing in on Powell’s refusal to cut interest rates.
“He should reduce the interest rates. I think I understand interest a lot better than him because I’ve had to really use interest rates. We should have interest rates go down,” Trump said.
Trump nominated Powell to serve as Fed Chair in 2017, during his first term as president.
Trump initially praised Powell when announcing his nomination, saying Powell would be a “wise steward of the Federal Reserve,” but soon soured on his choice. He has repeatedly called for Powell to lower interest rates.
In April 2019, Trump wrote on X, then known as Twitter, that Powell was holding back the US stock market by not cutting interest rates.
More recently, on April 17, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Powell’s “termination cannot come fast enough” after Powell said Trump’s sweeping tariffs on the world could result in higher inflation and weaker economic growth.
“The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, ‘Too Late’ Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete ‘mess!'” Trump wrote in his post.
In the same post, Trump said Powell’s “termination cannot come fast enough.” He later said he had “no intention” of firing Powell.
Trump has said several times that he has the authority to remove Powell before Powell’s term ends in May 2026. It’s unclear if he is able to do so. The law says a president can only remove a Fed official “for cause,” such as for misconduct and not over policy disagreements.
In November, shortly after Trump won the presidential election, Powell told reporters that Trump could not fire him because it is “not permitted under the law.” Powell also said he would not resign as Fed Chair if Trump asked him to.
A representative for the Federal Reserve declined to comment on Trump’s remarks on Wednesday. The White House did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
