If anyone thought Donald Trump was done pressuring Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell over interest rates — think again. The president’s campaign to strong-arm Powell into cutting rates isn’t slowing down, and a new behind-the-scenes look suggests Powell isn’t exactly thrilled about it.
In Trillion Dollar Triage, a book by Wall Street Journal economics reporter Nick Timiraos, readers get a peek into just how intense things got. Publicly, Powell stayed cool. Privately? Not so much.
The tension hit a boiling point back in 2019 during a House Financial Services Committee hearing. That’s when Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat and committee chair at the time, put Powell on the spot.
“What would you do,” she asked, “if the president called and said, ‘You’re fired. Pack up and go’?”
Powell didn’t flinch. “Well, of course I would not do that,” he said.
Waters leaned in: “I can’t hear you,” she teased — drawing laughs from the room and a chuckle from Powell himself.
Then he made it crystal clear: “My answer would be no.”
Trump, never one to hold back, has repeatedly lashed out at Powell for refusing to slash interest rates. The president has insisted that lower rates would “save the nation hundreds of billions of dollars,” especially as his administration ramped up trade fights and tariffs.
But Powell stayed the course. Under his watch, the Fed held the benchmark interest rate between 4.25% and 4.5%, taking a cautious approach as the economic impact of Trump’s trade wars played out.
With input from Fox News
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