Cnn
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President Donald Trump intensified his attacks on his president of the sorted federal reserve on Wednesday, saying that Jerome Powell has “a weak Qi” and suggested that he had reduced the list of potential replacements to three or four people.
“He is an average mental person … A weak IQ for what he does,” said Trump about Powell during remarks at a press conference at the NATO summit in the Netherlands on Wednesday. “I think she is a very stupid person, in fact.”
Trump has reprimanded Powell all year round, arguing that Fed’s reluctance to reduce interest rates costs the federal government hundreds of billions of dollars of interest.
Trump named Powell for the powerful position in 2017. He is one of Trump’s only main candidates that President Joe Biden has kept in place. Biden renovated Powell for another four -year term which expired in May 2026.
When asked if he had started to interview a replacement for Powell, Trump said: “Yes, I know that in three or four people I will choose.”
Trump added that the term Powell is up “fortunately, fortunately, because I think he is terrible.”
Powell argued that it is too early to reduce interest rates because many economists plan that Trump prices will eventually increase the inflation rate, which is lower today than when Trump has taken office.
During a hearing on Tuesday, Powell has poured cold water On calls for his colleagues to reduce rates next month, noting that most of the forecasters “expect a substantial wave of prices to reach the consumer”.
Commerce secretary Howard Lunick echoes Trump’s attacks on Fed chair on Wednesday. “Jerome Powell – Your work is to help Americans do not hurt them, so do your job and reduce our absurdly high interest rates at your next meeting,” said Lutnick in a job on X.
Powell also faced certain defections of his own ranks this week.
The vice-president of supervision of supervision, Michelle Bowman, minimized the potential impacts of Trump prices on Monday and said that the US central bank should quickly lower rates to preserve the health of the labor market.
Friday, the governor of the Fed, Christopher Waller, said that the prices probably will only make a “unique” increase in inflation. Bowman and Waller are people named by Trump.
On Monday, during a moderate discussion in Milwaukee, the president of the Fed of Chicago, Austan Goolsbee, said that the Fed could reduce the borrowing costs again “if we do not see the inflation resulting from these increased prices.”
Powell, however, warned that prices could start to increase prices from the summer. And if this happens, reduction rates could revive inflation. During its political meeting earlier this month, the Fed maintained its unchanged reference loan rate For the fourth consecutive time.
“If we make a mistake, people will pay the cost for a long time,” Powell said in his testimony on Wednesday.
Bryan Mena of CNN has contributed to this report.
