In a scathing denunciation that spares no subtlety, former President Trump castigated Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell as not only intellectually inept but also politically compromised, lambasting his obstinate refusal to lower interest rates despite inflation indicators flirting with the Fed’s target—a stance Trump deems both economically reckless and flagrantly detached from global monetary realities. Trump’s critique zeroes in on what he perceives as a fundamental failure in monetary policy, accusing Powell of allowing political influence to cloud his judgment, thereby undermining the Fed’s vaunted independence. This, he claims, translates into a catastrophic mismanagement of economic levers, with Powell stubbornly clinging to elevated rates even as inflation hovers near the Fed’s 2% target, a scenario that Trump argues demands rate reductions rather than obstinance. The Federal Reserve, however, has kept its key rate unchanged, waiting for more data on the impact of tariffs before making any move, despite the complexities businesses face in tracking taxable transactions impacted by such economic policies.
Highlighting the disconnect, Trump points to concrete inflation data—2.1% as of April 2025—asserting the absence of inflationary threat and therefore the necessity for monetary easing. He underscores tariffs generating $88 billion in revenue without inflating prices, dismissing Powell’s caution as unwarranted alarmism. Trump contrasts the Fed’s inertia with Europe’s central banks, which have cut rates ten times, painting Powell’s stance as not only isolationist but fiscally injurious. He also notes that lowering interest rates could save the U.S. government hundreds of billions annually by reducing debt costs significantly. The costs, in Trump’s analysis, are staggering: over a trillion dollars annually in interest payments on government debt, a burden inflated by the Fed’s refusal to pivot. Such monetary policy choices, he contends, are not mere technical errors but politically motivated missteps that “cost the country hundreds of billions,” demanding accountability and leadership recalibration before economic damage deepens.
