Donald Trump visited the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, during a rare presidential visit to the central bank’s headquarters. Trump was continuing his campaign to pressure the Fed to cut interest rates and was visiting its Washington headquarters to view costly renovations he has suggested are tantamount to fraud. Trump has turned up the pressure on Powell with criticism of the $2.5bn bill for renovating the Fed’s historical buildings.
Powell and Trump stood in hard hats inside the Fed’s construction site, urging the Fed chair to stand closer to him. Trump alleged that the bill for the renovations would now cost $3.1bn. The usually unflappable Powell looked visibly irritated, closed his eyes, and shook his head.
Asked by a reporter what he would do if a project manager went over budget, Trump said: “I’d fire him. Look, I would love to see it completed,” but he didn’t want to put that in this category.
The visit to the Fed comes less than a week before the central bank’s 19 policymakers gather for a two-day rate-setting meeting, where they are widely expected to leave the central bank’s benchmark interest rate in the 4.25%-4.50% range. Trump has demanded that the Fed lower rates by three percentage points and has repeatedly demanded that Powell slash US interest rates and has frequently raised the possibility of firing him.
