US President Donald Trump said in a statement on Monday that he met with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to discuss a wide array of issues, including interest rates, the strength of the US dollar and quantitative easing
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th November, 2019) US President Donald Trump said in a statement on Monday that he met with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to discuss a wide array of issues, including interest rates, the strength of the US dollar and quantitative easing."Just finished a very good and cordial meeting at the White House with Jay Powell of the Federal Reserve," Trump said via Twitter. "Everything was discussed including interest rates, negative interest, low inflation, easing, Dollar strength and its effect on manufacturing, trade with China, EU and others."
The Federal Reserve said in its own statement that the meeting took place on the urging of the US president and Powell's comments during the meeting were consistent with his remarks at his congressional hearings last week.
"He [Powell] did not discuss his expectations for monetary policy, except to stress that the path of policy will depend entirely on incoming information that bears on the outlook for the economy," the statement said.
In a speech to the Economic Club of New York, Trump criticized the Federal Reserve for raising rates too quickly last year and being too slow to drop them now, saying it had stunted the growth of the stock market, which, nevertheless, hit record highs last week.
Trump also pushed for negative rates, noting that other countries openly cut interest rates so that many are now actually getting paid when they pay off their loans.
Powell, testifying before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, said a negative rate regime was inappropriate for a strong economy like the United States, which was into a record 11th year of growth.
The Federal Reserve has cut the interest rate three times this year, between July and October, shaving a quarter point off each time.
