By Bo Erickson, Padraic Halpin and Conor Humphries
DOONBEG, Ireland, Sept 13 (Reuters) – No country should have lower interest rates than the U.S., 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 policy makers will raise interest rates at their meeting this week. But he argued that the U.S. “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 Fed meeting will take place less than a week after a key measure of underlying inflation, the Labor Department’s Consumer Price Index, on Friday posted its largest increase in four months. That reinforced expectations that the U.S. central bank will raise rates.
The central bank’s governors are meeting just weeks before the midterm elections that will determine whether Republicans keep their slim majorities in both chambers of the U.S. Congress. A rate hike could add to voter concerns about affordability, according to recent Reuters/Ipsos polls.
Trump’s approval ratings have fallen as inflation has persisted. He has argued that the Fed’s interest rate levels have helped other countries at the expense of the U.S.
“I know more about formulas than anybody, and with the best credit in the world, we make other countries rich,” Trump said on Sunday.
The president, a frequent critic of former Fed chair Jay Powell, has been more supportive of Fed leadership since his own pick for chair, Kevin Warsh, took charge earlier this year. But Trump recently has made his demands more clear.
“LOWER THE RATE OR I’LL STOP TRADING WITH COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE HAVE A DEFICIT,” Trump posted on social media two weeks ago.
Trump “will defend the independence of Kevin Warsh above all” no matter what the Fed does with interest rates, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told “Fox News Sunday.”
But Hassett also underscored Trump’s own preferences, saying “if it’s a rate hike … I’m sure he’s not going to be super happy about it.”
(Reporting by Bo Erickson in Doonbeg and Padraic Halpin and Conor Humphries in Dublin, writing by Alistair Smout, editing by Andrew Heavens and David Gregorio)
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