President Donald Trump called on the Federal Reserve to reduce the federal funds rate by 100 basis points, saying it is purposefully keeping the economy low for the 2020 election.
In a tweet Monday morning, the president vented his frustration, saying, “the Democrats are trying to ‘will’ the economy to be bad for purposes of the 2020 election.”
Our Economy is very strong, despite the horrendous lack of vision by Jay Powell and the Fed, but the Democrats are trying to “will” the Economy to be bad for purposes of the 2020 Election. Very Selfish! Our dollar is so strong that it is sadly hurting other parts of the world…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 19, 2019
Trump said the Fed should lower rates, and even look at further action.
“The Fed Rate, over a fairly short period of time, should be reduced by at least 100 basis points, with perhaps some quantitative easing as well,” Trump tweeted.
…..The Fed Rate, over a fairly short period of time, should be reduced by at least 100 basis points, with perhaps some quantitative easing as well. If that happened, our Economy would be even better, and the World Economy would be greatly and quickly enhanced-good for everyone!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 19, 2019
This is not the first time Trump has inserted his opinions of the Fed’s actions and criticized Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for his leadership, but it is the most specific the president has gotten with what he wants to see.
Back in May, Trump explained that China would most likely manipulate its interest rates to keep its economy going during the trade war, but said that if the U.S. did the same, it would be “game over.”
In 2018, Trump commented about the Federal Reserve several times over interest rate hikes, saying he was not happy about it.
“I'd rather pay down debt or do other things, create more jobs, so I'm worried about the fact that they seem to like raising interest rates,” Trump said at the time. “We can do other things with the money.”
This was at least the third time that year that Trump had vocally challenged the Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates.
At the end of its most recent July meeting, the Federal Reserve cut its benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point in a bid to keep the longest economic expansion in U.S. history from petering out. It was the first reduction since the financial crisis more than a decade ago.
