US President Donald Trump and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell met at the president's request. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says Trump told Powell he is making a mistake by not cutting interest rates, while the US central bank said in a statement that Powell stressed monetary policy will depend on economic data.
Yahoo Finance Senior Fed Reporter Jennifer Schonberger breaks down what we know.
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Well Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell meets with the president, a first since Trump's return to the White House. The meeting comes as Trump has called for the central bank to lower rates. Our finances Jennifer Schonberger joins us now with the very latest. Jennifer, what, what I wouldn't have done to be in that room, Jennifer, just to see that exchange.
I know, to be a fly on that wall, right, Josh? At the invitation of the president, Fed chair J. Powell did meet with Donald Trump for the first time during his during his second term, as the president told Powell, he's making a big mistake by not lowering interest rates. According to a statement from the Federal Reserve, Powell met with the president to discuss his outlook for the economy, employment, and inflation. Powell said that, quote, they did not discuss his expectations for monetary policy except to stress that the path of policy will depend entirely on incoming economic information and what that means for the outlook. The chair said that he and his colleagues will set monetary policy as required by law to support maximum employment and stable prices, and will make those decisions based solely on careful, objective, and non-political analysis. White House Press Secretary Carolyn Levit said the president pushed Trump, rather, the president pushed Powell to lower rates.
The president did say that he believes the Fed chair is making a mistake by not lowering interest rates, which is putting us at an economic disadvantage to China and other countries. And the president's been very vocal about that both publicly, and now I can reveal privately as well.
Levit also said Trump did not discuss his plans for replacing Powell after his term ends, or even firing Powell in today's meeting. And all of this coming after I asked chair Powell during his press conference following the FOMC interest rate meeting on May 7th, why he hasn't requested a meeting with the president in light of all the economic uncertainty.
I've never asked for a meeting with any president, and I never will. It's not I I wouldn't do that. There's never a reason for me to ask for a meeting. It's always been the other way. So, would you want to meet with him if given the opportunity to get more information? No, never. Never. It's never an initiative that I take. It's always an initiative. I I you know, I don't think it's up to a Fed chair to seek a meeting with the president, although maybe some have done so. I've never done so, and I can't imagine myself doing that. I think it's always comes the other way. A president wants to meet with you, but that hasn't happened.
And of course, all of this coming after President Trump has repeatedly pressured chair Powell and his colleagues to lower rates for all of this year really. And after the president said at one point that he couldn't wait for Powell's termination to come fast enough, only to turn around and say that he has no intention of firing chair Powell before his term ends in May 2026. Back to you.