Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell met with President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday, where he conveyed that monetary policy decisions would be based strictly on careful, objective, and non-political analysis, according to a statement released by the central bank.
The Federal Reserve noted that the meeting occurred at President Trump’s invitation, and the statement underscored Chair Powell’s emphasis on safeguarding the central bank’s independence.
The statement indicated that Chair Powell did not discuss his expectations for future monetary policy, except to stress that the path of policy would be determined solely by incoming economic data and its implications for the economic outlook.
The Fed reiterated Chair Powell’s consistent stance in response to President Trump’s sustained and unprecedented public pressure to aggressively lower interest rates. The central bank affirmed that Chair Powell and his colleagues on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) would set monetary policy, as mandated by law, to support maximum employment and stable prices. The FOMC is scheduled to convene on June 17-18 to make its next decision on interest rates.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later informed reporters that President Trump expressed to Chair Powell his belief that the Fed chair was making a mistake by not lowering interest rates, arguing that this inaction puts the U.S. at an economic disadvantage compared to China and other countries. Leavitt acknowledged that President Trump has been very vocal about this issue, both publicly and privately.
President Trump, who nominated Chair Powell in 2017, has frequently criticized him, recently referring to him on social media as “a FOOL, who doesn’t have a clue.”
President Trump’s comments regarding the Federal Reserve have often influenced market activity. An April 17 post on Truth Social stating that “Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough” triggered several days of market volatility. However, President Trump later backtracked, stating five days later that he had “no intention” of firing Chair Powell and “never did,” a possibility that the Supreme Court recently suggested would likely exceed presidential authority.
While meetings between the president and the Federal Reserve chair are infrequent, Chair Powell did have two in-person meetings with President Trump during his first term in 2019: one on February 4 and another on November 18. Chair Powell also met with President Joe Biden in May 2022, following his reappointment to another term as Fed Chair.
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