“Have a better instinct”
Trump wants to have a say in Fed decisions
09.08.2024, 14:10
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Trump is not happy with the Fed’s course. The US central bank repeatedly makes wrong decisions, criticizes the former president. If he is re-elected, he demands at least a say in monetary policy.
Former US President Donald Trump wants to be able to influence the course of the Federal Reserve Bank 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 the fact that the US Federal Reserve Bank, which is independent of the government, has repeatedly made wrong decisions.
The Fed “got it wrong in a lot of ways,” said the Republican presidential candidate during his appearance before journalists at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The real estate entrepreneur said of himself: “I’ve made a lot of money, I’ve been very successful, and I think I have better instincts than – in many cases – people who sit in the Federal Reserve or its chairman.” Trump complained that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell often acts “too early” or “too late.”
In recent years, the former president has repeatedly expressed frustration and criticism of the Fed and Powell. Powell, who has been in office since 2018, was nominated for the post by Trump himself. However, Trump announced during the current election campaign that if he were re-elected, he would not extend Powell’s mandate, which runs until 2026, for a third term. The Republican suspects the Fed chief of sympathizing with the Democratic Party of President Joe Biden and his deputy Kamala Harris, who has since been nominated as presidential candidate.
Trump accuses Powell of supporting the Democrats
The former president therefore said in an interview with Fox Business in February that Powell was aiming for a rate cut before the November election in order to “help the Democrats.” Powell, for his part, stressed at the end of July that the Fed would never use its instruments to support or oppose a party or politician. “We would never try to make decisions based on the outcome of an election that has not yet taken place,” he said.
This is a limit “that we would never exceed.” The Fed had raised key interest rates several times since March 2022 in the fight against inflation. Since July 2023, the monetary authorities have left the key interest rate range unchanged between 5.25 and 5.5 percent, the highest level in 23 years. Although the Fed has promised interest rate cuts for this year, it has not yet implemented them.