Trump says Fed, not China, does more harm to US economy

President Trump on Thursday again accused the Federal Reserve of harming the U.S. economy more than China by refusing to match the near-zero or negative interest rates seen in countries facing economic peril.

In a series of tweets Thursday morning, Trump accused the Fed and its chairman, Jerome Powell, of putting the U.S. at a “competitive disadvantage” for cutting interest rates the previous day by 0.25 percentage points.

{mosads}The president renewed his claim, first made in August, that the Fed has done more damage to the U.S. economy than China’s alleged anti-competitive behavior. The accusation is one of the president’s sharpest attacks against the independent central bank, and the claim itself has been widely disputed by economists.

“We should have lower interest rates than Germany, Japan and all others. We are now, by far, the biggest and strongest Country, but the Fed puts us at a competitive disadvantage,” Trump tweeted Thursday. “China is not our problem, the Federal Reserve is! We will win anyway.”

Trump has repeatedly called on the Fed to zero-out interest rates in order to boost a slowing economy ahead as he seeks reelection and hopes to clinch a trade deal with China.

The president insists that the Fed should mirror negative interest rates in Germany and Japan, even though the U.S. economy is much stronger than those of other major economic powers.

“People are VERY disappointed in Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve. The Fed has called it wrong from the beginning, too fast, too slow,” Trump tweeted, also bashing the Fed for raising interest rates four times in 2018. “Others are running circles around them and laughing all the way to the bank.”

Few if any economists, beyond Trump’s top aides, support the Fed cutting interest rates to 0 percent for the first time since December 2008. Most economists argue that reducing interest rates to that level is unnecessary to support a slowing but still stable U.S. economy.

Strong consumer spending, resilient household optimism and a tight labor market have helped the U.S. economy hold steady amid a global slowdown. But declines in business investment and manufacturing recession driven in part by Trump’s trade war have spurred fears of a looming recession.

Trump has consistently blamed the Fed for the steep decline in American manufacturing and business investment, insisting that the central bank has hindered the U.S. from its full economic potential.

The president has called on the bank to cut rates and push the value of the U.S. dollar lower, which makes U.S. goods comparatively less expensive in global markets.

“Dollar & Rates are hurting our manufacturers,” Trump tweeted. 

But economists largely blame the rising costs and uncertainty spurred by Trump’s trade wars — along with fading global demand — for the declines investment and manufacturing.

While the U.S. economy still boasts a 3.5 percent unemployment rate and solid gross domestic product (GDP) growth, the pace of job gains and expansion has steadily declined throughout 2019.

GDP grew at an annualized rate of 1.9 percent in the third quarter this year, compared to 2.9 percent throughout 2018, while average monthly job gains have fallen from 223,000 in 2018 to 161,000 in 2019.

Trump has imposed tariffs of up to 25 percent on more than $300 billion in Chinese exports, and is set to levy import taxes on $100 billion in major consumer goods on Dec. 15. Beijing has retaliated with crushing tariffs on U.S. crops and livestock, which have devastated farmers already reeling from an agricultural economic crisis.

The volatile year-plus trade war between the world’s largest economies has soured the global economic outlook, spiked costs for manufacturers and frozen business investment. 

While Trump insists that China will be forced to cave under economic pressure, experts say Chinese President Xi Jinping is all but certain to hold out and reject U.S. demands for fundamental economic reforms.

As Trump seeks a major trade victory heading into the 2020 election, White House and Chinese negotiators are hammering out the final details of a preliminary trade deal. 

The president tweeted Thursday that U.S. and Chinese officials are selecting a new location for Trump and Xi to sign the pact after Chile was forced to cancel the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, the intended site of the rapprochement.