Sunday, 28 Apr 2024

Trump jawbones Fed on rates, wishing for rocket-like economy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Tuesday launched his latest salvo at the Federal Reserve, saying the U.S. economy could go “up like a rocket” if the central bank were to cut interest rates.

“We have the potential to go … up like a rocket if we did some lowering of rates, like one point, and some quantitative easing,” he said in a pair of tweets.

“Yes, we are doing very well at 3.2% GDP (gross domestic product), but with our wonderfully low inflation, we could be setting major records &, at the same time, make our National Debt start to look small!,” he said, referring to the economy’s first-quarter growth rate.

The Fed, which opened a two-day policy meeting on Tuesday, has been one of Trump’s favorite punching bags. It was not the first time he has called on it to cut interest rates and pursue a new round of QE, in which the central bank buys bonds to drive borrowing costs lower.

At the conclusion of its meeting on Wednesday, the Fed is expected to announce it is keeping the benchmark federal funds target rate unchanged in a range of 2.25% to 2.50% in keeping with a pledge to be “patient” on rate policy going forward. Trump has been irate that the Fed has raised interest rates repeatedly since he became president, most recently at the bank’s meeting in December.

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