Trump sends handwritten note to Fed Chief Jerome Powell demanding rate cut

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Jun 30, 2025

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President Donald Trump Monday issued a hand-written note to Fed Chief Jerome Powell demanding he cut interest rates in a new escalation of their feud.

Trump scrawled the to “Jerome” note as he piles pressure on the powerful central banker to agree to dramatically cut rates or step down before his term is up next May.

“Jerome – You are, as usual, ‘too late.’ You have cost the USA a fortune – and continue to do so – you should lower the rate – by a lot,” Trump wrote.

Trump penned the note in black permanent marker over a chart listing the interest rates of other nations worldwide, an effort to depict that the Fed is out of step with easier monetary policy.

“Powell, and his entire board, should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen to the United States,” Trump wrote on his social media site. “We should be paying 1% interest or better.”

Karoline Leavitt flashed a hard copy of the chart to reporters at the daily White House press conference, underscoring the administration’s effort to pressure Powell.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Trump was mulling options for sidelining Powell, who insists the president has no right to fire him.

One possibility would be to appoint a person who would be considered the future Fed chair in January when the term of one of the other members of the Fed Board of Governors expires.

Bessent brushed off questions about whether markets might react negatively to such an unprecedented move or alternatively naming one of the sitting board members to be the Fed Chair in waiting.

“Obviously there are currently people at the Fed who are under consideration,” Bessent added.

Trump threatened to fire Powell earlier this year, but the banker has said he’s not going anywhere and Trump later said he wasn’t seriously considering that move.

Trump wants Powell to cut interest rates by 1% or 2% to juice the economy. The Fed chair, who is supposed to act independently of politics, is cautious because of the unknown impact of Trump’s trade war and tariffs on inflation.

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