President Trump revived his criticism of the Federal Reserve in a private meeting with its chair, Jerome H. Powell, on Thursday, saying it was a mistake not to lower interest rates.
The meeting, which was organized at Mr. Trump’s request, is the first since the president returned to the White House.
Mr. Powell and Mr. Trump discussed how the economy was evolving with regards to inflation, the labor market and growth. The chair did not share his expectations for monetary policy, the Fed said in a statement.
He told the president that such decisions would “depend entirely on incoming economic information and what that means for the outlook,” according to the statement, and would be “based solely on careful, objective and nonpolitical analysis.”
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters on Thursday that Mr. Trump expressed his belief to Mr. Powell that the Fed was making a mistake by not lowering interest rates.
The meeting comes at a fraught moment for the economy, which now faces a variety of risks stemming from Mr. Trump’s policies. That has complicated the Fed’s job as it seeks to stamp out the remaining pressures on prices stemming from the pandemic and contain new ones that surface as a result of the tariffs, while also supporting a labor market that has begun to slow.
Since returning to the White House, the president has repeatedly imposed, paused and rolled back tariffs against America’s trading partners. His plan to rewire the global trading system was dealt a massive blow on Wednesday after a federal court ruled that many of the levies in place were illegal.
There are workarounds that suggest more expansive tariffs of some form will likely come back into effect at some point, leaving businesses and consumers in a state of limbo. Tariffs, which are taxes on imports, are broadly expected to slow growth while raising inflation.
Republicans are also seeking to push through sweeping tax cuts that risk raising the deficit at a time when U.S. government debt markets are already on edge. That coupled with more aggressive efforts to deport immigrants has injected extreme uncertainty into the economic outlook.
The Fed is considering the net effect of these policies, which officials say will take time to filter across the economy. With the labor market still on solid footing, policymakers at the central bank argue they can afford to be patient about restarting the interest rate cuts they put on pause in January after lowering borrowing costs by a full percentage point last year.
Traders in federal funds futures markets now expect the Fed could be on hold for the bulk of the year, delivering only one quarter-point rate cut by December. Some economists believe a pause on rate cuts could extend into 2026 because they expect tariffs to raise inflation to a degree that would make it challenging for the Fed to respond to a slowing economy.
The Fed’s wait-and-see approach has drawn the ire of the president, who has repeatedly demanded that the central bank lower interest rates. Mr. Trump has also gone after Mr. Powell personally, branding the Fed chair a “major loser” and “Mr. Too Late.” He at one point toyed with removing Mr. Powell, whom he elevated to Fed chair in his first term, but was urged by his own economic advisers against doing so for fear of sparking a financial panic.
The Supreme Court recently signaled that the president’s ability to meddle with the Fed is more limited than with other independent agencies, saying that the institution is a “uniquely structured, quasi-private entity.”
At Thursday’s briefing, Ms. Leavitt added that the president did not discuss his plans for nominating a new chair when Mr. Powell’s term is up in May 2026.
Colby Smith covers the Federal Reserve and the U.S. economy for The Times.
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