Trump calls on Federal Reserve board to wrest full control of central bank from Fed Chair Powell
Posting on his Truth Social platform, Trump called Powell 'stubborn.' The Fed chair has been subjected to vicious verbal attacks by the Republican president over several months.
The Fed has the responsibility of stabilizing prices and maximizing employment. Powell has held its benchmark rate for overnight loans constant this year, saying that Fed officials needed to see what impact Trump's massive tariffs had on inflation.
If Powell doesn't 'substantially' lower rates, Trump said, 'THE BOARD SHOULD ASSUME CONTROL, AND DO WHAT EVERYONE KNOWS HAS TO BE DONE!'
Trump sees the rate cuts as leading to stronger growth and lower debt servicing costs for the federal government and homebuyers. The president argues there is virtually no inflation, even though the Fed's preferred measure is running at an annual rate of 2.6%, slightly higher than the Fed's 2% target.
Trump has called for slashing the Fed's benchmark rate by 3 percentage points, bringing it down dramatically from its current average of 4.33%. The risk is that a rate cut that large could cause more money to come into the economy than can be absorbed, possibly causing inflation to accelerate.
The Supreme Court suggested in a May ruling that Trump could not remove Powell for policy disagreements. This led the White House to investigate whether the Fed chair could be fired for cause because of the cost overruns in its $2.5 billion renovation projects.
Powell's term as chair ends in May 2026, at which point Trump can put his Senate-confirmed pick in the seat.
Monday Mornings
The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week.
___
Follow the AP's coverage of the Federal Reserve System at https://apnews.com/hub/federal-reserve-system.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Toronto Star
17 minutes ago
- Toronto Star
Toppled Confederate statue in DC to be replaced in line with Trump's executive order
WASHINGTON (AP) — A statue of a Confederate general that was toppled by protesters in Washington in 2020 will be restored and replaced this fall, in line with President Donald Trump's pushback on recent efforts to reframe America's historical narrative. The National Park Service announced Monday that the statue of Albert Pike, a Confederate brigadier general and a revered figure among Freemasons, would resume its previous position in Washington's Judiciary Square, a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol. It was the only outdoor statue of a Confederate military leader in the nation's capital.
Winnipeg Free Press
17 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Justice Department releases new list of so-called sanctuary jurisdictions
Associated Press (AP) — The Justice Department identified some three dozen states, cities and counties as so-called sanctuary jurisdictions on Tuesday, two months after the federal government quietly removed a much longer list that included many localities that support the Trump administration's hard-line immigration policies. The earlier, typo-riddled list was met with pushback from across the political spectrum, with officials often saying it wasn't clear why their jurisdictions were included. The new announcement doesn't appear to threaten consequences beyond what the federal government is already doing. Attorney General Pamela Bondi warned in the announcement that the department would 'continue bringing litigation against sanctuary jurisdictions and work closely with the Department of Homeland Security to eradicate these harmful policies around the country.' 'Sanctuary policies impede law enforcement and put American citizens at risk by design,' she said. The new list is composed overwhelmingly of Democratic jurisdictions, including states like New York and California, cities like Boston and New York City and a handful of counties, including Baltimore County, Maryland, and Cook County, Illinois. There's no clear definition of sanctuary jurisdictions, but the term is generally applied to state and local governments that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The administration never fully explained the errors in the first announcement, which included hundreds of jurisdictions, including places that had voted overwhelmingly for Trump and at least one that had declared itself a 'non-sanctuary city.' The list was published in late May on the Department of Homeland Security's website but within three days was replaced with a 'Page Not Found' error message. Trump officials have long warned that the federal government would go after jurisdictions that resist the president's plans for mass deportations. In April, Trump signed an executive order requiring Homeland Security and the attorney general to publish a list of jurisdictions they believe are obstructing federal immigration laws. The administration has filed a series of lawsuits targeting state or city policies it says are interfering with immigration enforcement, including those in Los Angeles, New York City, Denver and Rochester, New York. It sued four New Jersey cities in May. In late July, a judge in Illinois dismissed a Trump administration lawsuit that sought to disrupt limits Chicago imposes on cooperation between federal immigration agents and local police.
Winnipeg Free Press
17 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Toppled Confederate statue in DC to be replaced in line with Trump's executive order
WASHINGTON (AP) — A statue of a Confederate general that was toppled by protesters in Washington in 2020 will be restored and replaced this fall, in line with President Donald Trump's pushback on recent efforts to reframe America's historical narrative. The National Park Service announced Monday that the statue of Albert Pike, a Confederate brigadier general and a revered figure among Freemasons, would resume its previous position in Washington's Judiciary Square, a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol. It was the only outdoor statue of a Confederate military leader in the nation's capital. The statue was pulled down with ropes and chains on Juneteenth in 2020 as part of mass protests following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. Confederate statues around the country were toppled by similar protests while several military bases named for Confederate leaders were renamed. The Pike statue restoration, which is targeted for October, 'aligns with federal responsibilities under historic preservation law as well as recent executive orders to beautify the nation's capital and reinstate pre-existing statues,' the park service said in a statement. Restoration is part of a larger narrative In March, Trump issued an executive order entitled 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.' It decried post-Floyd efforts to reinterpret American history, stating, 'rather than fostering unity and a deeper understanding of our shared past, the widespread effort to rewrite history deepens societal divides and fosters a sense of national shame.' The order targeted the Smithsonian network of museums as having 'come under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.' It also instructed the Interior Department to restore any statue or display that was 'removed or changed to perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology.' Pike, who died in 1891, is more known for his decades-long stint as a senior leader of the Freemasons than for his Confederate military career. The Masons lobbied Congress for the right to erect the statue on NPS land in 1901 — provided that he be depicted in civilian, not military, garb. But Pike did lead a regiment for the Confederacy during the Civil War. And as the only outdoor statue of a Confederate leader in Washington, D.C., it had been a source of controversy for decades. Even the brief Park Service page on the statue notes that it has 'stirred opposition since it was first planned.' A long history of demands for its removal The D.C. Council asked for its removal in 1992. In 2017, Mayor Muriel Bowser struck an agreement with congressional leaders to eventually remove it. When protesters toppled the statue in 2020 while police officers looked on, Trump — then in his first term — called it 'a disgrace to our Country' on social media and called for their immediate arrests. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington's non-voting delegate in Congress, called the Park Service move 'odd and indefensible' in a statement Monday. Norton said she would introduce legislation to remove the statue permanently and place it in a museum. 'I've long believed Confederate statues should be placed in museums as historical artifacts,' she said, 'not remain in parks and locations that imply honor.'
