Trump says Powell should resign ‘immediately’ in latest attack on Fed chair

The most recent attack in a string of attacks that have raised questions about the US central bank’s independence has been repeated by President Trump.

After his administration’s top housing regulator urged the US Congress to launch an investigation into the central banker, Trump called on Powell to “resign immediately.”

In a post on X, Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte claimed Powell should be investigated for giving “deceptive testimony” regarding renovations at the Federal Reserve headquarters in Washington, DC.

Trump said “Too Late,” a nickname used to criticize Powell for slowing down rates, should resign in a Truth Social post in response to Pulte’s comments.

Trump’s most recent broadside comes days after he wrote Powell a letter urging him to “a lot” lower the benchmark interest rate, which is currently set at 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent.

The US president has repeatedly criticized Powell for not backing faster rate increases, arguing that the central banker’s cautious approach is halting economic growth and overblown inflation concerns.

Lower interest rates help businesses and consumers pay less for borrowing, boosting economic growth.

However, rate cuts also have the opposite effect, raising inflation, which central banks typically prefer to keep low, and Trump’s broad-based tariffs are generally expected to cause prices to rise.

In a panel discussion on Tuesday at the European Central Bank Forum in Portugal, Powell claimed that the central bank had waited to see the effects of Trump’s tariffs, many of which are still pending in preparation for a July 9 deadline.

We put the size of the tariffs on hold, according to Powell, and essentially all of the US’s inflation forecasts increased significantly as a result of the tariffs.

“We didn’t react too strongly,” he said. We simply take a little time; in fact, we didn’t react at all.

Since taking office in January, Trump has repeatedly demanded that Powell step down or be removed. His term won’t expire until May 2026.

Trump stated to reporters last week that he would “love” for Powell to step down “if he wanted to.”

After stocks and the US dollar drastically dropped, Trump said in April that Powell’s “termination cannot come fast enough.”

The US president is only permitted to fire the Fed chair “for cause,” which is widely accepted to mean specific misconduct, not policy making.

In a ruling that highlighted the Federal Reserve as having a distinct status in comparison to other independent organizations, the US Supreme Court reaffirmed precedent that had limited the president’s authority to remove the president’s top central banker in May.