President Donald Trump sent a note to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell Monday showing how other nations across the world have lower interest rates compared to the U.S. as the president continues accusing the Fed chair of keeping interest rates “artificially high.”
“‘Jerome, you are, as usual, too late. You have cost the USA a fortune and continue to do so,'” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday, reading Trump’s note to Powell. “‘You should lower the rate by a lot. Hundreds of billions of dollars are being lost and there is no inflation.'”
Leavitt explained that Trump sent Powell a chart showing countries stretching from Japan to Botswana showing those countries have lower interest rates compared to the U.S., which was accompanied by Trump’s note telling Powell the U.S. is losing hundreds of billions of dollars in the U.S. due to its current target rate of 4.25% to 4.5%.
“This is a chart of all of the interest rates of many countries throughout the world,” Leavitt said while displaying a copy of the note Trump sent Powell Monday. “At the top is Switzerland. They’re only paying a quarter for interest rates. Cambodia, Japan, Denmark, Thailand, Botswana, Barbados, Taiwan, Bulgaria, Cuba, Sweden, Morocco, Cabo Verde, South Korea, Algeria, Canada, Albania, Libya, Malaysia, China, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Czechia, Bolivia, Australia, Costa Rica, the Bahamas, Kuwait, Papua New Guinea, Bosnia, United Kingdom and the UAE are all paying lower interest rates than the United States of America, which has one of the hottest and strongest economies in the world.”
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The Federal Reserve is America’s central bank, which sets monetary policies and oversees banks. It acts independently, meaning it does not require approval from the president or Congress when enacting policies.
Trump has amplified his criticisms of Powell in recent weeks, arguing that Powell already should have lowered interest rates, while calling him a “numbskull” along with the nickname “Mr. Too Late.” At the recent NATO summit in Canada, Trump said during a press conference that Powell is “terrible” and is a “very average mentally person” who has “low IQ for what he does.”
TRUMP SLAMS FED CHAIR POWELL FOR NOT CUTTING RATES: ‘AVERAGE MENTALLY PERSON’
Powell said earlier in June while testifying before a House committee that he has resisted lowering rates in order to monitor if tariffs will drive inflation. The Fed held rates constant for its fourth consecutive meeting earlier in June and is scheduled to hold its next meeting in late July.
The president has argued that Powell should slash rates down to “1% or 2%,” according to his interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo Sunday morning.
“We have a bad Fed chairman, but other than that … it doesn’t even matter, the numbers are so good it doesn’t matter that he keeps the rates artificially high,” Trump said Sunday.
Powell, who was first appointed to the job by Trump during his first administration, will wrap up as chief of the Federal Reserve in 2026. Trump told the media recently that he is in the midst of vetting “three or four” people to serve as Powell’s successor.
Leavitt was asked Monday why Trump doesn’t “just fire Jerome Powell and put in somebody that is going to lower rates.”
TRUMP SLAMS FED CHAIR POWELL FOR NOT CUTTING RATES: ‘AVERAGE MENTALLY PERSON’
“It’s a good question and one you can ask the president because that’s a decision for him to make,” Leavitt responded. “But you’re right to point out the politicization of the Fed. And it’s very unfortunate for our country.”
“But Jerome Powell cut rates numerous times ahead of the election when Joe Biden was in this Oval Office,” she said. “But now he refuses to when the economy is in a much better place. So there really isn’t a good explanation for that. And the president is rightfully calling attention to it.”
Fox News Digital’s Eric Revell contributed to this report.
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