US President Donald Trump says that he has “no intention to dismiss” Jerome Powell after having repeatedly criticized the Federal Reserve Head.
But he added that he would like Powell to be “a little more active” when it comes to reducing interest rates.
Speaking in the oval office on Tuesday, Trump also said that he was optimistic about improving commercial relations with China.
Last week, the president intensified his criticism of the Fed chief, calling him “major loser”. The comments have sparked a sale of US stocks, bonds and dollar, but the financial markets have since given these losses.
The latest remarks made after the director of the national economic council, Kevin Hassett, said Trump on Friday was looking for if it would be possible to fire Powell.
During his first mandate at the White House, Trump appointed Powell to lead the Central Bank in 2017. The president of the time, Joe Biden, appointed him for a second four -year term at the end of 2021.
The Fed did not reduce rates this year, after having lowered them from a percentage point at the end of last year, a Trump position criticized strongly.
It is not clear if Trump has the power to dismiss the president of the Fed. No other American president tried to do so.
Also on Tuesday, Trump said that he would be “very nice” in negotiations with Beijing and that the prices would fall if there was an agreement, but not “zero”.
Earlier, the secretary of the US Treasury, Scott Bessent, would have said that he expected a de -escalation of the trade war with China, describing the current as unbearable situation.
After the remarks, the main Asian stock markets were higher on Wednesday while investors seemed to welcome the latest remarks.
The Japan Nikkei 225 index increased by around 1.7%, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong climbed approximately 2.3%, while Shanghai composite in Continental China increased by less than 0.1%.
This came after American shares carried out gains on Tuesday, the S&P 500 ending the Tuesday session up 2.5% and the NASDAQ increased by 2.7%.
American term contracts were also negotiated overnight. The term markets give an indication of how the financial markets occur when they open for trading.
Investors feared that the pressure on Powell to reduce interest rates could lead to a price increase at a time when commercial prices are already seen stimulating inflation.
Trade tensions between the world’s largest economies, as well as American prices on other countries in the world, have sparked uncertainty about the world economy. These concerns have triggered unrest in the financial markets in recent weeks.
On Tuesday, American economic growth forecasts for this year were made by the economies put forward by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) due to the uncertainty caused by prices.
The net increase in prices and uncertainty will lead to a “significant slowdown” of global growth, predicted the fund.
Trump taxed up to 145% on imports from China. Other countries are now faced at an American price of 10% until July.
Its administration said last week that when new prices are added to those existing, samples from certain Chinese products could reach 245%.
China retaliated with a 125% tax on the United States products and promised to “fight until the end”.
The Chinese government has not yet officially responded to the latest statements from the Trump administration.
However, an article in the Global Times controlled by the State on Wednesday quoted commentators who said that the remarks showed that the United States were starting to realize that prices do more harm than good to the American economy.
