Donald Trump has called Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell a “numbskull” for not cutting interest rates, saying the White House may “have to force something” if the US central bank does not reduce borrowing costs.
The president on Thursday repeated his calls for the Fed to cut borrowing costs by a full percentage point — a measure Trump said would save the US hundreds of billions of dollars a year on its debt.
“We are going to spend $600bn a year because of one numbskull that sits there, [saying] ‘I don’t see enough reason to cut the rates’,” Trump told reporters, referring to Powell, who he has nicknamed “too late”. The president added: “I may have to force something.”