Trump again calls for Fed to cut rates, says Powell’s ‘termination cannot come fast enough’

President Donald Trump on Thursday again called for the Federal Reserve to lower rates and even hinted at the “termination” of Chair Jerome Powell.

In a Truth Social post, Trump said:

Indeed, the European Central Bank has been cutting rates as it tries to boost growth in the region. The ECB is expected to lower rates again later on Thursday.

The post comes a day after Powell delivered a speech at the Economic Club of Chicago in which he noted that the administration’s tariffs put the central bank in a tricky spot as it decides whether to tame inflation or boost growth.

“If that were to occur, we would consider how far the economy is from each goal, and the potentially different time horizons over which those respective gaps would be anticipated to close,” Powell said. Those comments contributed to a steep sell-off on Wednesday.

This is not the first time Trump has criticized Powell’s approach to U.S. monetary policy. Trump posted on April 4, two days after the administration’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement, that it would be “a PERFECT time for Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to cut Interest Rates. He is always ‘late,’ but he could now change his image, and quickly.”

However, it is the first time Trump has explicitly called for Powell’s firing. Powell has said the president does not have the power to fire him, noting that it is “not permitted under the law.”

Powell’s term as Fed chair ends in May 2026.