Donald Trump lost it on Tuesday, threatening a “major lawsuit” against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell as Americans face rising prices partly blamed on Trump’s own tariffs.
In a furious post on Truth Social, Trump demanded Powell “must NOW lower the rate.” He also went after his former Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin, mocking him by saying, “Steve ‘Manouychin’ really gave me a ‘beauty’ when he pushed this loser.”
Trump’s anger didn’t stop there. He blasted Powell for the $2.5 billion Fed building renovation and warned, “I am, though, considering allowing a major lawsuit against Powell to proceed because of the horrible, and grossly incompetent, job he has done in managing the construction of the Fed Buildings.”
His outburst came the same day the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) showed inflation creeping higher. Core inflation, which leaves out food and energy costs, rose 0.3% last month — the biggest jump since Trump took office. Over the past year, core inflation is up 3.1%, the largest annual rise since February.
While economists say the Fed won’t likely cut rates in September, Trump is furious the Fed hasn’t acted faster, blaming Powell’s “steady” rates for the economic pain.
Powell recently warned tariffs are pushing prices up. Trump’s team denies tariffs are to blame, but the numbers tell a different story. Prices for household goods and clothing have climbed, partly due to the tariffs hitting businesses, which then pass the costs to consumers.
Powell even admitted Tuesday that some tariffs’ costs are passed on, but claimed “for the most part, Consumers aren’t even paying these Tariffs.” Instead, “mostly Companies and Governments” bear the cost.
Trump has delayed some tariffs but let others start. Just last week, big new tariffs kicked in, but they won’t show up in July’s inflation numbers yet. On Tuesday, Trump signed an order delaying high tariffs on Chinese imports for 90 more days.
Meanwhile, while Trump ranted at Powell, the White House praised the inflation report. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said inflation “beat market expectations once again and remain stable.”
That statement comes even as Trump’s team works to discredit the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which publishes the CPI. Trump fired the BLS commissioner after last month’s poor jobs report and on Monday nominated E.J. Antoni, an economist from a conservative think tank, for the job.
Economists from all sides say Antoni is unqualified and inexperienced, raising questions about the future of reliable economic data.
