President Donald Trump on Thursday said he will call for a lowering of U.S. interest rates, exerting pressure on the Federal Reserve despite a longstanding norm of political independence at the central bank.
During a virtual address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump demanded a drop in interest rates after calling for a reduction of oil prices set by a group of nations known as OPEC, which includes Saudi Arabia.
The prospect of low oil prices will enable the Fed to dial back its fight against inflation and bring down interest rates, Trump said.
“I’m going to ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to bring down the cost of oil,” Trump said, later adding: “With oil prices going down, I’ll demand that interest rates drop immediately.”
The U.S. does not belong to OPEC, nor does the president play a role in the organization’s decisions regarding the price of oil sold by its member states.
The central bank is typically insulated from political interference, but several past presidents have sought to influence the Fed’s interest rate policy, including Trump, who repeatedly spoke out in favor of low interest rates during his first term.
On the campaign trail in August, Trump said a U.S. president should have a role in setting interest rates.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell struck a defiant tone in November when posed with the question of whether he would resign from his position if asked by Trump.
“No,” Powell told reporters assembled at a press conference in Washington, D.C., blocks away from the White House.
When asked whether Trump could fire or demote him, Powell retorted: “Not permitted under the law.”
The prospect of a presidential role in setting interest rates drew opposition from both liberal and conservative economists who previously spoke to ABC News.
Critics of an expanded role for the president point to a bout of high inflation in the 1970s and 1980s. Before the inflation took hold, President Richard Nixon had urged Fed Chair Arthur Burns to cut rates in the run-up to the 1972 presidential election.
Nixon’s advocacy is widely viewed as a contributing factor for lower-than-necessary interest rates that enabled inflation to get out of control, some economists noted.
“Allowing the president, any president, to help set monetary policy would eventually wreck the U.S. economy,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, told ABC News.
The statements from Trump on Thursday came amid a monthslong reduction in interest rates.
The Fed cut interest rates by a total of a percentage point over the final months of 2024, delivering relief for borrowers long-saddled by a prolonged stretch of high interest rates.
The central bank, however, has indicated that it may cut rates less often in 2025 than it previously indicated. Inflation may prove more difficult to bring under control than policymakers thought just a few months ago, according to the bank.
The Fed is set to make its next decision on interest rates next week. The central bank is widely expected to maintain interest rates at the current level of between 4.25% and 4.5%, according to the CME FedWatch Tool, a measure of market sentiment.
Speaking on Thursday, Trump said a lowering of rates could bring about a reduction of interest rates worldwide.
“They should drop all over the world,” Trump said. “They should follow us.”
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