President Trump calls Fed's Powell "too late" on interest rates, formally requests rate cut

According to the White House, US President Donald Trump has formally complained about high interest rates to Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell. The Fed has adopted a firm wait-and-see approach to how the US economy will handle potential fallout from the Trump administration's whiplash trade policy approach. President Trump has steadily ramped up hostile rhetoric toward the Fed in recent weeks, culminating in a formal complaint to the head of the Fed on Monday.

Key White House highlights

• High interest rates remain a problem.
• Trump sent a handwritten note to Fed Chair Powell.
• Trump calls Powell "too late".
• Trump asks Powell to lower interest rates.

Donald Trump's new campaign against the Fed comes at a time when early tariff effects have already pushed near-term core inflation metrics slightly higher, as shown by the uptick in the Personal Consumption Expenditure Price Index (PCE) inflation last week. President Trump's struggle to pass his "big beautiful budget bill" is also weighing on monetary policy planning, as the budget is expected to swell US federal deficit spending, marking a complete departure from Donald Trump's campaign promises to end or outright eliminate the US budget deficit "within months."