Trump hints at firing Federal Reserve chair Powell after tariff comments, AP Explains

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President Donald Trump slammed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday, reiterating his frustration that the Fed has not aggressively cut interest rates and saying that the central bank leader's "termination cannot come fast enough.”

Transcript

00:00President Donald Trump is lashing out at Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

00:23He says he's frustrated that the Fed has not aggressively cut interest rates, and he says

00:27the central bank leader's termination cannot come fast enough.

00:31Now the source of Trump's anger is a statement from Powell that signaled that the Fed will

00:36keep its interest rate unchanged while it seeks greater clarity on the impact of policy

00:41changes in areas such as immigration, taxation and tariffs.

00:53Powell also reiterated that Trump's tariffs would likely raise inflation and slow the

00:57economy.

00:58That of course could make it harder for the Fed to cut rates anytime soon.

01:02The level of tariff increases announced so far is significantly larger than anticipated

01:07and the same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation

01:13and slower growth.

01:15Powell was initially nominated by Trump in 2017.

01:18He was nominated to another four year term by President Joe Biden in 2022, and his current

01:23term ends in May of 2026.

01:26In November, Powell indicated he would not step down if Trump asked him to resign.

01:30He's also said that the removal or demotion of top Fed officials was not permitted under

01:35the law.

01:36Now it's worth noting that Trump's comments come against the backdrop of a legal case in

01:40the Supreme Court that could determine whether presidents can fire the heads of independent

01:45agencies such as the Fed.

01:52Today, we decided to leave our policy interest rate unchanged and to continue to reduce our

01:58securities holdings.

01:59Good afternoon.

02:03Before discussing today's meeting, let me comment briefly on recent developments in the banking

02:15comments here of the principles I am going to focus on.

02:16So, let me go to the website.

02:17Please check it out.

02:18Please check it out.

02:19We are going to leave our policy interest rate at the bottom of the position.

02:22The day of the problem is, let me go to the stage of the link, let me go to the

02:23top of the line.

02:24The mind of the attack has been really a bit and a bit and a bit of a bit.

02:27So, let me go to the next step and look to each other.

02:28This is a full view of the Señor of the United States.

02:29This is a full view of the KalilCCia Tunes who have a great choice for the

02:30athlete.

02:30So, let me go to the next step and look to the next step.

02:32It is the second view of the National Anthem.

02:33It has been a very difficult time to write into the B.

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