WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is frustrated that his top central banker won’t cut interest rates to make it easier for businesses and consumers to borrow and spend money.
In recent days, Trump has repeatedly trashed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, originally appointed by Trump himself during his first term in the White House, as just a stupid guy.
“I think he’s terrible,” Trump said Wednesday at a NATO summit in the Netherlands, echoing similar insults from last week. “He’s an average mentally person. I’d say low in terms of what he does, low, low IQ for what he does.”
The Fed hiked interest rates starting in 2022 in response to inflation caused largely by the coronavirus pandemic, and Trump is mad that the rates haven’t yet come all the way down even though inflation has mostly subsided.
“We have no inflation. We have a tremendous economy,” Trump said Wednesday.
