The News
US President Donald Trump said he would “demand” policymakers cut interest rates, renewing pressure on the country’s central bank.
Trump has long called for more power over monetary policy and is far from the first president to do so, but economists warned against politicization of rates: ABC News noted that President Richard Nixon’s demands for lower rates ahead of the 1972 general election are believed to have raised inflation.
Trump’s nominee for treasury secretary backed the Fed’s independence in his confirmation hearing, but has previously floated the idea of a “shadow Fed chair” to undermine the power of the head of the central bank. The current Fed chair has so far resisted Trump’s pressure.
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