Trump says Jerome Powell is ‘hurting our country’ as president finally weighs in on Fed’s plan for interest rates

President Donald Trump renewed his attacks on the head of the Federal Reserve and demanded once again that the central bank artificially cut interest rates regardless of whether such a decision is indicated by economic conditions.

In a Thursday post on Truth Social, Trump complained that Fed Board of Governors Chair Jerome Powell had “again refused to cut interest rates” — a decision that had been made by the bank’s 12-member Federal Open Market Committee — and claimed the bank has “absolutely no reason to keep them so high.”

Trump also accused Powell of “hurting our country and its national security” and called the veteran economist a “moron” who is “costing America Hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year in totally unnecessary and uncalled for INTEREST EXPENSE.”

“Because of the vast amounts of money flowing into our Country because of Tariffs, we should be paying the LOWEST INTEREST RATE OF ANY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD,” he said.

The president did not explain what, if anything, revenue from tariffs (which are import taxes paid by Americans and not by foreign countries as he often claims) had to do with the Fed’s “overnight rate” that lays out how much interest banks can charge each other for short-term interbank loans.

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But he nonetheless repeated his demand for the central bank to “substantially lower interest rates, NOW” and again linked the Fed’s decision to his legally questionable tariff policies, which are now the subject of a Supreme Court challenge that could see the high court strike down nearly all of the taxes he has imposed by fiat under never-before-used emergency powers he has claimed to possess.

“Tariffs have made America strong and powerful again, far stronger and more powerful than any other Nation. Commensurate with this strength, both financial and otherwise, WE SHOULD BE PAYING LOWER INTEREST RATES THAN ANY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD,” he added.

Trump’s latest attack on the Federal Reserve chair comes roughly 18 hours after the bank’s Open Market Committee voted 10-2 to hold rates steady after three consecutive months of slashing rates.

Only a pair of Trump appointees to the board — Christopher Waller and Stephen Miran — supported further cuts in line with the president’s demand, with both favoring a quarter-percentage-point cut in the overnight rate.

In a statement, the board noted that "economic activity has been expanding at a solid pace" while declining to say whether future cuts could be expected and stressing that "the extent and timing of additional adjustments" to the policy rate would depend on a review of economic data and the broader economic outlook for the U.S. going forward.

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The bank also noted that inflation "remains somewhat elevated," even as the job market had "shown some signs of stabilization” in recent months.

The Fed’s decision was the first since Powell took to social media with an extraordinary video announcement confirming that the Department of Justice had launched an investigation into him and decrying the move as a part of Trump’s push to coerce the bank into artificially juicing the economy by needless interest rate cuts.

“The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President,” he said.

News of the DOJ probe into Powell drew harsh condemnation from both sides of the aisle in Congress, including from Republican senators such as Republican and North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who has vowed to block any future Trump nominees to the Fed’s board until the matter is resolved.