The White House stated on Thursday that President Donald Trump met with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, telling him that the decision to maintain current federal interest rates was "the wrong call."

White House spokeswoman Caroline Levitt said in a press briefing that Trump made clear during the meeting that he "believes the Fed Chair is making a mistake by not cutting interest rates." She noted that this was the first such meeting between the two during Trump's second term, held at the White House, where the president argued that keeping rates unchanged "puts the U.S. at an economic disadvantage compared to China and other nations."

Levitt added that Trump, who had not met with Powell since 2019, "has always been very vocal on this issue."

Fed Reaffirms Data-Dependent Policy Stance
In a statement following the meeting, the Federal Reserve said Powell "did not discuss his policy outlook except to emphasize that the Fed's decisions will depend entirely on incoming economic data and its implications for the economic outlook."

A Contentious Relationship
Since the start of his second term on January 20, Trump has repeatedly pressured the Fed to cut rates, even launching sharp criticisms against Powell for not complying with his demands. At one point, Trump threatened to remove Powell from his position before walking back the remark.

In April, the Federal Reserve (the U.S. central bank) kept interest rates steady at their current range of 4.25% to 4.5% for the third time this year, following a series of cuts that began in late 2023, with the most recent reduction in December.

Background on Powell's Tenure
Trump appointed Powell as Fed Chair in 2018 for an eight-year term ending in May 2026. During his first term, Trump had pushed Powell to slash rates to near zero—a move that ultimately happened in March 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the Fed later reversed course with successive hikes to combat pandemic-driven inflation.