President Donald Trump renewed his public assault on Federal Reserve interest rate policy on Wednesday, insisting solid economic data should not prevent the central bank from cutting rates.
Trump accused Fed officials of acting with political motivations, a charge he has levelled at the institution repeatedly throughout his presidency, though he stopped short of criticising Chairman Kevin Warsh.
Warsh, whom Trump nominated to lead the Fed earlier this year, took over the top position in May, succeeding Jerome Powell, whom Trump had long pressured to lower rates more aggressively.
Powell was not removed entirely and remains on the Fed board as a governor, meaning his influence on policy decisions has not disappeared entirely from Trump’s perspective.
“The problem is he has a board, and it’s a political board,” Trump told reporters. “People put in by Obama, Biden, and me, and there are quite a few members still left, as you understand, and so they vote to raise interest rates.”
Trump added: “I don’t know if they’re doing it because they think they’re doing a good thing or because they like the politics of it.”
The Fed has not actually voted to raise its benchmark interest rate in more than three years, and the Federal Open Market Committee cut rates three times during the latter half of 2025, following three reductions the prior year.
Despite those cuts, the pace of reductions has failed to satisfy Trump, who argues that lower borrowing costs are essential to sustaining economic growth and easing the financing burden of the nation’s nearly $40 trillion debt.
“My point is, years ago, 25 years ago, when the country announced good numbers, interest rates went down because we had a stronger country,” Trump said. “Now, when we announce good numbers, the better they are, the worse it is for interest rates.”
Trump’s remarks arrived on the same day the FOMC released minutes from its July meeting, which showed that “many” officials expected higher rates would be necessary unless inflation demonstrated more meaningful progress.
Annual inflation in the United States remains well above the Fed’s 2% target, even as more recent data has offered some encouragement to policymakers watching price trends closely.
The broader economic picture has also given Trump fresh ammunition for his argument, with the U.S. economy growing at a 1.5% annualised rate in the second quarter, falling below expectations and the 2.1% rate recorded in the first quarter.
Trump pointed to Switzerland as an example of a country benefiting from far lower borrowing costs, with its benchmark rate anchored near zero as it wrestles with very low inflation and a strong safe-haven currency.
“I see countries like Switzerland where they’re the number one lowest interest rates, a half a percent, and we pay three and a half percent,” he said. “I have the absolute right to cut off all business with a country like Switzerland.”
Despite his frustration over rates, Trump said he does not believe the United States faces a bond market problem, even as he continues to argue that current rates are unfairly elevated.
The Treasury Department separately announced on Wednesday that it was stepping up its bond buyback programme, specifically targeting debt with a duration of at least 10 years, following a surge in longer-maturity debt markets.