President Trump said Sunday the Federal Reserve should return to a policy of quantitative easing, arguing against a tightening monetary policy that he sees as hurting the U.S. economy.
Just before arriving at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va., Trump sent out the tweet criticizing the Fed.
“If the Fed had done its job properly, which it has not, the Stock Market would have been up 5000 to 10,000 additional points, and GDP would have been well over 4% instead of 3%…with almost no inflation. Quantitative tightening was a killer, should have done the exact opposite!”
If the Fed had done its job properly, which it has not, the Stock Market would have been up 5000 to 10,000 additional points, and GDP would have been well over 4% instead of 3%…with almost no inflation. Quantitative tightening was a killer, should have done the exact opposite!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 14, 2019
Trump has criticized Federal Reserve policy in the past, blasting it for raising interest rates too quickly at the end of last year. It was reported Trump had private discussions about firing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, although Powell said he doesn’t believe that Trump has the authority to fire him.
Despite his criticism of Powell and the Federal Reserve, Trump has backed off of notions about firing the chairman, recently telling Powell, “I guess I’m stuck with you.”
The critical tweet comes as Trump has faced backlash for his plans to nominate businessman Herman Cain and Stephen Moore to the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors.
Federal Reserve officials announced last month that they had held their interest rate target steady and signaled that they wouldn’t raise rates at all this year.
