Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell has once again repeated his warning to the American government. Which is to not try and control the central bank.
His statement came as presidential candidate Donald Trump continues to criticize the Fed’s decisions, particularly on interest rates.
Responding to a question at the post-FOMC presser, Powell said the Fed operates based on economic data, not political pressures, and it’s going to stay that way.
Since his time in office, Trump has consistently tried to influence the Fed’s monetary policies. He truly believes that Powell’s decision to cut interest rates was nothing but a political move to boost opponent Kamala Harris’s chances in the election.
Trump’s feud with the Fed goes back years. During his presidency, he openly pressured Powell to cut rates, often lashing out when the central bank didn’t move fast enough for his liking.
He thinks Powell should have slashed rates more aggressively during his time in office, and he’s not backing down now.
Historically, the Fed operates independently of the White House to avoid political meddling, but Trump wants direct influence over the central bank. His goal? To make sure monetary policies align more closely with his vision for the economy.
To give you an idea of what that vision is, the former president has pledged to impose sweeping tariffs on foreign imports, starting at 10% and potentially reaching 100% for countries that abandon the dollar as their reserve currency.
That could affect both domestic inflation and international trade relations, which let’s be honest, are already strained enough.
This could lead to what experts call an “inflationary bias,” where the Fed keeps interest rates too low just to boost growth, especially around election time.
Economists are saying this is risky and could be a repeat of the inflation mess we saw in the 1970s when political pressure caused prices to hit all-time highs.
Imagine if Trump pushes the Fed to lower rates even though his tariff policies are already driving up inflation. That would be like mixing a “toxic inflation cocktail.”
It would undo years of work to keep prices stable and could cause the economy to crash. Of course that would screw up the entire world.
