President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve agreed to a significant increase in interest rates — demanding that they do the opposite and make a massive cut instead.
"Interest Rates in the United States should be 1%, or less, because we are the Best Credit in the World — BY FAR," wrote Trump. "Our Country is BOOMING with new Investment! If we stopped Trading with every country that we have a Deficit with, which is most of them, we would make, at least, 1.5 Trillion Dollars a year."
"The word 'Deficit' is nothing more than a fancy word for LOSS," Trump continued. "We are 'carrying' almost every country in the World, and that cannot go on any longer. LOWER THE INTEREST RATES FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND FAST!"
Economists broadly agree that while reductions in interest rates make borrowing cheaper and boost employment in the short run, it can also drive a run of high inflation even higher. Increases to interest rates are one of the Fed's primary tools to tamp down inflation, which has been surging due to fuel shortages from the war in Iran.
Trump has put intense pressure on the Fed, an independent body intended not to be influenced by political considerations, to cut interest rates to time a surge of economic activity when Republicans need a boost in the midterm elections.
