President Donald Trump has threatened to cut off trade to countries with which the U.S. has a trade deficit if the Federal Reserve doesn’t lower interest rates, a major escalation of his pressure campaign on the central bank.

Trump made the announcement on Friday after the release of employment numbers that showed that the economy added far more jobs than anticipated last month. The stronger jobs numbers, coupled with still-too-high inflation, increased expectations that the Fed would raise interest rates at its next meeting. In a post to Truth Social, the president called for the opposite.

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