On July 24, President Donald Trump visited the headquarters of the Federal Reserve (Fed), the U.S. central bank, in Washington, D.C. A U.S. president visiting the Fed is highly unusual, as past presidents have typically exercised caution to respect the Fed’s independence and the neutrality of its monetary policy.

However, Trump, accompanied by aides, disregarded this tradition and made the visit. The stated purpose of Trump’s visit was to inspect the ongoing renovation and expansion of the Fed’s headquarters, a project involving significant federal funding. Appearing before the press wearing a construction hard hat, Trump stood alongside Fed Chair Jerome Powell and said, “One of the reasons I wanted to come here was to look into the issue of budget overruns. I wanted to find out why this happened.”

He continued, “I’m looking at it now, and it seems the budget is around $3.1 billion. It’s gone up a bit—actually, quite a lot. It was $2.7 billion, and now it’s $3.1 billion,” pointing out the increased construction costs. When a reporter asked, “As a real estate developer, what do you do when a manager goes over budget?” Trump replied, “What do I do? I’d fire them.” Trump has repeatedly called for lower interest rates and has criticized Powell, whose term ends in May 2026, labeling him a “fool” and publicly suggesting the need for his early replacement or resignation.

However, when asked if he would continue to pressure Powell to resign, Trump said, “No, I won’t do that. His term is ending soon,” adding that he has two or three candidates in mind as potential successors. Trump expressed optimism, stating, “I think he’s late, but he’ll do the right thing [lower rates].” When asked if he would fire Powell if he refused to cut rates, Trump responded, “I wouldn’t do that.” During the visit, when asked what Powell could say to make him retract his criticisms, Trump reiterated his call for lower rates, saying, “It would be nice if they [Fed governors] would lower interest rates.” Trump has consistently advocated for reducing the current U.S. benchmark interest rate of 4.25–4.50% to around 1%. The Fed is set to hold its Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on July 29–30 to decide on interest rates.

Trump has recently suggested that trade negotiations, either ongoing or completed with other countries, could create a “synergistic effect” when combined with Fed rate cuts. Concluding his visit, Trump told the press, “We want interest rates to go down,” emphasizing, “Our country is booming, and lower rates are the final step.” He added, “High rates don’t help economic growth. We’re already doing well, but [with lower rates], we’ll take off like a rocket.” Trump further claimed, “Without us, everything collapses. So we need to have the lowest interest rates [in the world]. If we lower rates to 1%, we could save over $1 trillion.”

Yonhap News