Topline
President Donald Trump and the U.S.’ top monetary policy decisionmaker, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, met Thursday at Trump’s request, breaking bread after Trump’s repeated attacks on Powell over the Fed’s hesitation to lower interest rates at Trump’s request.
Trump has repeatedly gone after Powell as the Fed has declined to immediately cut interest rates as … More
Key Facts
The Fed said in a statement Trump requested the meeting, the first of his second presidential term.
Powell was firm in his insistence the Fed would determine monetary policy based on economic data, as the central bank reported Powell stressed “the path of policy will depend entirely on incoming economic information and what that means for the outlook” and make policy decisions “based solely on careful, objective, and non-political analysis.”
Contra
Trump, who called Powell a “fool” earlier this month, still appears unhappy with Powell and his colleagues’ reluctance to lower rates immediately. The president’s most recent post to his Truth Social platform is an article outlining a Trump administration official’s case for Powell to lower rates.
Surprising Fact
Thursday was Powell’s first meeting with a sitting president since May 2022.
Key Background
In 2017, Trump nominated Powell to his post, but his opinion of the banker quickly soured as the Fed opted to raise interest rates in 2018 as inflation rose. Trump reportedly discussed firing Powell in 2018 over his displeasure with rate hikes—lower rates tend to be politically popular as they lower borrowing costs and stimulate economic growth, though they can overheat the economy and worsen inflation. On the campaign trail last year, Trump ratcheted up pressure on the Fed and Powell, stating he believed the president should have “say” on rate decisions, which would deviate from the century-long precedent of independence for the Fed from Washington politics (Trump explained in his case he “made a lot of money” and has “better instinct than in many cases, people that would be on the Federal Reserve or the chairman”). Trump amplified his displeasure with Powell and the Fed after taking office, teasing the potential firing of Powell and calling Powell a “fool” as the Fed declined to lower rates at each of its 2025 meetings thus far, in part due to warnings about the potential of Trump’s tariffs to ratchet up inflation.
Further Reading
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2025/05/29/donald-trump-and-feds-powell-held-surprise-meeting-powell-says-interest-rate-decisions-non-political/