Trump meets with Fed Chair Powell to discuss economy
- by Patty Hardy
- in Business
- — Nov 19, 2019
US President Donald Trump and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell have been discussing the economy and interest rates.
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"At the President's invitation, Chair Powell met with the President and the Treasury Secretary Monday morning at the White House to discuss the economy, growth, employment and inflation". The central bank has cut its benchmark short-term rate three times this year to try to support the economy.
In a second tweet Monday evening, however, Trump said that during the meeting he protested "that our Fed Rate is set too high relative to the interest rates of other competitor countries".
"Chair Powell said that he and his colleagues on the Federal Open Market Committee will set monetary policy, as required by law, to support maximum employment and stable prices and will make those decisions based exclusively on careful, objective and non-political analysis", the statement from the Federal Reserve read. He added that they discussed "interest rates, negative interest, low inflation, easing, Dollar strength and its effect on manufacturing, trade with China, EU and others, etc".
The Federal Reserve said Friday that corporate debt remains at historically high levels but overall the US financial system is resilient, a view in sharp contrast to the problems that led to the 2008 financial crisis.
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"Powell said that he and his colleagues on the Federal Open Market Committee will set monetary policy, as required by law, to support maximum employment and stable prices and will make those decisions based exclusively on careful, objective and non-political analysis", the statement said. The president has called Fed officials "boneheads" and has asserted that the economy and stock market would be performing better if rates were lower or even negative as in Europe and Japan.
Powell's statement said the Federal Reserve would continue to set monetary policy independently.
Powell met with Trump in February and has also had at least three brief phone conversations with him.
His attacks, including an August tweet asking "Who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powell or Chairman Xi?", referring to China's president, have shattered a decades-long White House tradition of avoiding public comment on monetary policy out of respect for the Fed's independence.
They'll exclusively be eliminated "for cause", not over a disagreement over coverage.
Meetings between Fed chairs and presidents are not unprecedented but they are infrequent, as opposed to the almost weekly sessions that central bankers have with the head of the Treasury.
