Donald Trump says it just makes sense for him to have a say Federal Reserve rate decisions if he wins another term in the Oval Office.
For Trump, it all comes down to his business career.
“I made a lot of money. I was very successful,” Trump bluntly stated.
He doesn’t lack for confidence: He also said he has better business acumen that the chairman of the Federal Reserve.
CNN has more details in its story:
Throughout his presidency, Donald Trump tried to pressure the Federal Reserve into cutting rates — a breach of protocol that threatened to undermine the independence of the central bank and its ability to keep jobs booming and inflation low. If reelected, Trump said Thursday he’d go further: He’d try to exert direct power over monetary policy.
“I feel the president should have at least a say in there. I feel that strongly,” Trump said toward the end of his press conference. “I made a lot of money. I was very successful. And I think I have a better instinct than, in many cases, people that would be on the Federal Reserve — or the chairman.”
The former president said that Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whom Trump appointed to the position in 2017, has got the timing of rate moves wrong throughout his tenure.
“He’s tending to be a little bit late on things. He gets a little bit too early and a little bit too late,” Trump said. “I believe it’s really a gut feeling.”
Trump appeared to be joining a growing chorus, including economists and market participants, who believe Powell and the Fed blew it last week when it opted not to cut rates from a 23-year high at the conclusion of its policy meeting on July 31. Two days later, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the US economy added a disappointing 114,000 jobs and the unemployment rate shot up to 4.3%.
That worse-than-expected jobs report sent the stock market into a tizzy, igniting fears that the Fed waited too long to cut rates. It takes time for rate hikes or cuts to take effect in the economy, so timing a policy decision right is a tricky game that the Fed historically has failed to win.
Still, Trump has recently advocated against a rate cut before the election, saying such a decision from the Fed would be a gift to the Democratic party. Rate cuts tend to reduce borrowing costs for consumers and businesses, freeing up cash to to spend and boosting the economy. In the Fed’s yearslong battle with surging inflation, it hiked rates to slow the economy and bring prices under control. It has largely accomplished that goal.
Trump has publicly feuded with Powell for years, frequently posting on social media that he disagreed with the Fed’s decision to raise rates in Powell’s pre-Covid rate-hiking campaign.