Trump rips 'loser' Powell to immediately lower interest rates; markets fall

President Trump on Monday ramped up his pressure on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates, calling him a "major loser" and suggesting previous rate cuts were aimed at helping former President Biden.

The statement by Trump was watched closely by Wall Street, where markets reopened on Monday after a three-day holiday break. The Dow Jones was down 990 points or 2.53 percent at 11:30 a.m., with the dive accelerating after Trump's remarks about Powell.

“‘Preemptive Cuts’ in Interest Rates are being called for by many. With Energy Costs way down, food prices (including Biden’s egg disaster!) substantially lower, and most other ‘things’ trending down, there is virtually No Inflation," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

"With these costs trending so nicely downward, just what I predicted they would do, there can almost be no inflation, but there can be a SLOWING of the economy unless Mr. Too Late, a major loser, lowers interest rates, NOW,” the president continued.

Trump added, “Europe has already ‘lowered’ seven times. Powell has always been ‘To Late,’ except when it came to the Election period when he lowered in order to help Sleepy Joe Biden, later Kamala, get elected. How did that work out?”

The president has increasingly called for Powell to cut rates, while the Fed chair has warned that Trump's tariffs could cause economic growth to stall while inflation increases — which would likely keep the Fed from being able to lower rates.

Trump last week said he couldn’t wait for the Fed chair’s “termination” and insisted Powell would leave if he attempted to fire him.

Kevin Hassett, chair of the White House National Economic Council, said Friday that the White House is exploring how to fire Powell, despite the legal guardrails in place.

A 90-year-old Supreme Court precedent likely protects Powell from being fired by the president for anything other than misconduct or severe neglect of office. Powell has repeatedly insisted he cannot legally be fired and would refuse to leave until the end of his term, which ends in 2026.

This story was updated at 11:32 a.m.