President Trump resumed his attacks on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell Thursday, calling the central bank boss a “fool” who “doesn’t have a clue.”
The comments on the social media platform Truth Social came one day after the Fed kept its interest rates unchanged and Powell reiterated that he would wait for greater clarity on how Trump’s tariffs would affect the economy before deciding on a path for monetary policy going forward.
Trump has repeatedly called for the Fed to lower rates. He didn’t repeat that demand Thursday, but he did resurface his contention that Powell has a history of moving too late on monetary policy.
″’Too Late’ Jerome Powell is a FOOL, who doesn’t have a clue. Other than that, I like him very much!”
The president in his post also argued again that there is “virtually NO INFLATION,” arguing that “almost all costs” are down while tariff money is “pouring” into the US.
Traders have now pushed back bets on the first rate cut this year to July from June, and odds for a rate cut in July are just slightly better than 50%. Markets are currently pricing in three 25 basis point rate cuts starting in July.
It’s unclear whether the Fed still anticipates making two cuts in 2025, as it predicted in March.
Asked Wednesday whether the Fed could make a policy change as soon as the next meeting in June, Powell told reporters, “We feel like it’s appropriate to be patient … we think right now the appropriate thing to do is to wait and see how things evolve. There’s so much uncertainty.”
Powell also told reporters he didn’t think that the Fed could be preemptive with rate cuts now because the central bank expects upward pressure on inflation while the economy weakens. He said the central bank doesn’t know what the right response will be yet until officials see more data.
Some Fed watchers argue there is danger in waiting too long.
“Postponing the initial rate cut raises the risk that policymakers may need to accelerate the pace of easing later in the year to avoid falling behind the curve,” said EY chief economist Greg Daco.
Other central banks outside the US are easing monetary policy further. The Bank of England on Thursday cut its main interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point, citing lower inflation.
Powell on Wednesday pushed back on political pressure from the White House, telling reporters that Trump “doesn’t affect our doing our job at all” and that “I’ve never asked for a meeting with any president, and I never will.”
Wednesday’s decision to hold rates steady came after Trump’s public campaign in recent weeks to urge the Fed and Powell to cut rates as his administration rolls out a series of aggressive tariffs on goods imported from major trading partners.
In doing so, the president also lobbed a series of insults at Powell, calling him a “total stiff” and a “major loser” while accusing him of being late to act.
“There can be a SLOWING of the economy unless Mr. Too Late, a major loser, lowers interest rates, NOW,” the president posted on his social media website, Truth Social, on April 21, saying that “‘Preemptive Cuts’ in Interest Rates are being called for by many.”
He also said that Powell’s “termination can’t come fast enough” before later clarifying that he had no intention of removing Powell before his term is up in May 2026.
Powell was asked Wednesday about his reaction to Trump saying that he would keep Powell in place, and he replied that he had nothing more to say. Powell has previously said he intends to serve out his term and that his removal is not permitted by law.
“I’ve pretty much covered that issue,” he said Wednesday.
He was also asked whether Trump’s calls for lower rates affect his job or the decision made on Wednesday. “Doesn’t affect doing our job at all,” Powell said.
Later in the Wednesday afternoon press conference, Powell was asked by Yahoo Finance why he hadn’t met with Trump.
“I’ve never asked for a meeting with any president, and I never will,” he said, adding that it is not up to the Fed chair to seek out an audience with the occupant of the Oval Office.
“It always comes the other way: ‘A president wants to meet with you,’ but that hasn’t happened.”
