Federal Reserve chair blames Trump's tariffs for preventing interest rate cuts
Source: The Guardian
Tue 1 Jul 2025 11.21 EDT
Last modified on Tue 1 Jul 2025 15.18 EDT
The chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, has blamed Donald Trumps tariffs for preventing the immediate interest rate cuts the president has demanded. Trump has repeatedly urged Powell to reduce borrowing costs in the US economy. On Tuesday, he said: Anybody would be better than J Powell. Hes costing us a fortune because he keeps the rate way up.
He spoke not long after Powell told a European Central Bank (ECB) event in Portugal that the Fed was waiting to assess the inflationary impact of the presidents trade policies.
Speaking on a panel of central bankers in Sintra, the Fed chair said: In effect we went on hold when we saw the size of the tariffs. Essentially all inflation forecasts for the United States went up materially as a consequence of the tariffs. We didnt overreact, in fact we didnt react at all. Were simply taking some time.
Asked if the Fed would have cut its key Fed funds rate further, from the current target range of 4.25-4.5%, if it wasnt for tariffs, Powell said: I think thats right.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/01/federal-reserve-chair-blames-trump-tariffs-for-preventing-interest-rates-cut

pfitz59
(11,651 posts)Oranganius Rex is not happy.
Irish_Dem
(72,560 posts)All roads lead back to Trump in terms of serious problems.
Miguelito Loveless
(5,087 posts)The Orange Regime. They will move against him since disobedience cannot be tolerated.
Bernardo de La Paz
(57,199 posts)Buddyzbuddy
(1,208 posts)he started the campaign to oust Powell. He wanted Powell to reduce rates to offset the tariffs before the impact of his decision would come to light. And if Powell didn't lower rates then the Felon could say the resulting bad economy is Powell's fault, not the inflated tariffs.