In a long-winded speech Thursday, President Donald Trump tore into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, calling him a “numbskull” and hinting he might take drastic action to get his way on interest rates.
“I may have to force something,” Trump said, without explaining what that meant or how he would do it.
Speaking at a bill signing at the White House, Trump went off-script, raging about the Fed’s refusal to cut interest rates. “What is he doing? Why doesn’t he lower these rates?” he asked the room.
He mocked Powell, whom he appointed in 2017, using a nickname he’s floated before: “We call him ‘too late.’”
Trump claimed that slashing interest rates could save the country hundreds of billions of dollars. “If we cut our interest by 1 point, for years we save $300 billion. If we cut it by 2 points we save … $600 billion a year, $600 billion because of one numbskull that sits here, ‘I don’t see enough reason to cut the rates’ no.”
At one point, Trump recounted a conversation from his meeting with Powell last month. He said he told Powell to cut rates now and only consider raising them “if inflation were to rise again.”
Trump brushed off critics warning against firing the Fed chair. “The fake news is saying ‘Oh, if you fired him, it would be so bad. It would be so bad.’ I don’t know why it would be so bad. But I’m not going to fire him.”
Still, he suggested he might act if Powell doesn’t budge.
“Somebody said, ‘Who’s the genius who thought of that?’ I said, ‘It’s me’ … but, I had an idea, I gave it. They said, ‘This is really — we’ll go short term for a year, let this guy get out of office, somebody will come in and cut it a couple of points.’”
Trump has slammed Powell repeatedly, even telling reporters recently that talking to him was “like talking to a wall.”
The Fed, meanwhile, has held interest rates steady, waiting to see how the U.S. economy reacts to Trump’s economic policies. Powell has said the central bank won’t rush into a rate change unless the data calls for it.
Watch Trump’s remarks in the clip below:
