President Donald Trump late Wednesday slammed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell over the U.S. central bank’s decision to keep interest rates unchanged, calling him “a real dummy.”
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump directed his ire at Powell, claiming that the Fed’s latest decision to keep its benchmark rate at its current charge of 4.25% to 4.5% will hurt the American economy.
“Too Late—Powell is the WORST,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “A real dummy, who’s costing America $Billions!”
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump told reporters he would like to see interest rates drop by at least two percentage points, suggesting that he should perhaps put himself in charge of leading the Fed.
“He’s not a smart person,” Trump said of Powell. “I think he hates me, but that’s OK, you know, he should. He should. I call him every name in the book trying to get him to do something.”
“I do it every way in the book. I’m nasty, I’m nice. Nothing works,” Trump added.
The president also dismissed Powell’s concerns around inflation.
“If [Powell’s] worried about inflation that’s okay, I understand that, I don’t think there’s going to be any. So far there hasn’t. We have almost no inflation,” the president claimed.
Powell, however, said that while inflation has come down significantly from the highs of 2022, it “remains somewhat elevated” relative to the central bank’s 2% goal, citing this as part of the reason for keeping interest rates steady.
Powell also reflected on the impact of Trump’s trade policy, saying that “increases in tariffs this year are likely to push up prices and weigh on economic activity.”
“Ultimately the cost of the tariff has to be paid and some of it will fall on the end consumer,” he told reporters. “We know that’s coming and we just want to see a little bit of that before we make judgments prematurely.”
Trump nominated Powell as Fed chair during his first presidency. Former President Joe Biden decided to offer Powell a second term in the job which is set to expire in May 2026. Trump has said he will soon announce his pick to succeed Powell, while Bloomberg reported that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has emerged as a top candidate.