Ahead of Fed meeting, Trump says US should have world’s lowest interest rate
Speaking in Ireland, US president insists on lower rates despite rising inflation concerns ahead of midterm polls
No country should have lower interest rates than the US, President Donald Trump said on Sunday, days before the Federal Reserve’s next policy meeting.
Speaking to reporters at the Irish Open golf tournament, Trump said he did not know whether Fed policymakers will raise interest rates at their meeting this week. But he said the US. “should be paying the lowest interest rate in the world” no matter what the Federal Reserve’s data indicates about inflation and the economy.
The Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index, a key measure of underlying inflation, on Friday posted its largest increase in four months. That reinforced expectations that the US central bank will raise the target range for its federal funds rate, now at 3.5 per cent to 3.75 per cent, at the conclusion of its Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Wednesday.
Price pressures remain elevated as the economy deals with Trump’s import tax increases and surging energy prices tied to the Iran war. Many at the Fed worry that the longer inflation remains high, the greater the cost will be to get it back to target.