Trump says he has ‘no intention’ of firing Federal Reserve chair

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he has no plans to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, just days after his statement that he would like to terminate the head of the U.S. central bank caused a stock market selloff.

“I have no intention of firing him,” Trump told reporters.

The U.S. president had previously insinuated otherwise as he said he could fire Powell if he wanted to, having been frustrated by the Fed putting a pause on cuts to short-term interest rates. Powell has said that Trump’s tariffs are creating uncertainty about slower growth and higher inflationary pressures, while the president maintains that inflationary worries are essentially non-existent.

The president maintains that energy and grocery prices are falling, so the Fed should cut its benchmark rates because inflation is no longer a threat to the U.S. economy, Trump said. His remarks indicated that he still plans to use the bully pulpit to pressure a U.S. central bank that is committed to resisting political pressure as part of its mandate to stabilize prices and maximize employment.

“It’s all coming down,” Trump said. “The only thing that hasn’t come down, but hasn’t gone up much, are interest rates. And we think the Fed should lower the rate. We think that it’s it’s a perfect time to lower the rate. And we’d like to see our chairman be early or on time, as opposed to late. Late’s not good.”