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Trump signals frustration with Fed’s independent policies

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is complaining that President Xi Jinping enjoys a major advantage in the U.S.-China trade war in that he controls China’s central bank while Trump must deal with a Federal Reserve that is “very destructive to us.”
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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is complaining that President Xi Jinping enjoys a major advantage in the U.S.-China trade war in that he controls China’s central bank while Trump must deal with a Federal Reserve that is “very destructive to us.”

Trump makes clear in an interview with CNBC his frustration with a system that provides political independence for America’s central bank — something most economists see as vital to its credibility. Trump notes that China’s president, by contrast, is essentially also head of the Chinese central bank.

“He can do whatever he wants,” Trump says.

Trump also complains that even though he selected four of the Fed’s five board members, including elevating Jerome Powell to chairman, “We have people on the Fed that really weren’t, you know, they’re not my people.”