Another Trump feud slowly boiling away

The Musk-Trump feud continues but another feud has been bubbling away for months: the one between Mr Trump and Jerome Powell, the man he appointed during his first term to head up the equivalent of Australia’s Reserve Bank.

The President wants the Federal Reserve to lower America’s interest rates, and has been expressing his dissatisfaction with Mr Powell for some time. The Fed Chairman’s latest remarks, which come to us from a conference in Portugal, will not help their relationship.

Mr Powell essentially said the Fed would have already cut interest rates, fulfilling Mr Trump’s wish, if not for ……… the President’s own policies.

He was explicitly asked whether rates would have been cut, absent Mr Trump’s tariffs.

“I think that’s right,” said Mr Powell.

“In effect, we went on hold when we saw the size of the tariffs, and essentially all inflation forecasts for the United States went up materially as a consequence of the tariffs.”

Mr Trump continues to insist the tariffs are not inflationary. And today he once again said “anybody would be better” as Fed Chairman than Mr Powell.