Fed chair meets with Trump at White House
President Donald Trump held an unannounced meeting with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell at the White House residence on Monday, the first such meeting between the President and the nation’s top monetary policymaker since an informal dinner last February.
Trump has routinely attacked Powell, a former investment banker, over interest rate moves — breaking previous presidential precedent that called for keeping the world’s most powerful central bank out of politics.
“Just finished a very good & cordial meeting at the White House with Jay Powell of the Federal Reserve. Everything was discussed including interest rates, negative interest, low inflation, easing, Dollar strength & its effect on manufacturing, trade with China, E.U. & others, etc.,” Trump tweeted following the meeting.
A statement from the Federal Reserve released shortly before Trump’s tweet said the meeting, which also included Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, came at the President’s invitation.
“Chair Powell’s comments were consistent with his remarks at his congressional hearings last week. He 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.
It continued, “Finally, Chair Powell said that he and his colleagues on the Federal Open Market Committee will set monetary policy, as required by law, to support maximum employment and stable prices and will make those decisions based solely on careful, objective and non-political analysis.”
CNN’s Kevin Liptak contributed to this report.
