You were criticizing the Federal Reserve chair before coming to this summit? I think he's terrible. I was wondering if you've begun interviewing different candidates for the fed pick. Yeah, I know within 3 or 4 people who are going to pick. I mean, he goes out pretty soon, fortunately, [00:00:15] because I think he's terrible. He's an average mentally person. I'd say low in terms of what he does low, low IQ for what he does. Okay. President Donald Trump is absolutely furious [00:00:31] with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who has essentially defended his decision to hold off on lowering interest rates due to uncertainty stemming from the president's tariffs and trade policy. Now, tariffs, of course, are essentially taxes on imports to the United States, and [00:00:52] those costs are transferred over to U.S. Consumers, meaning it adds inflationary pressure to the market. And as a result of that, and over concerns that that will happen, [00:01:07] Jerome Powell has decided, okay, we're just not going to stimulate the economy by lowering interest rates further. We want to wait and see. That is his strategy here. And Trump is not happy about it. And you're about to hear why. Instead of paying $900 billion, [00:01:27] we don't want to pay 900 just because he doesn't want to lower the rate. I said, if there's inflation in two years or three years or one year from now, you raise the rate and you take care of inflation, among other things. But he's probably a very political guy, I guess. [00:01:43] I don't know, I think he's a very stupid person, actually. The 900 billion that Trump was referencing there is the 900 billion that the United States spent last year in servicing our debt. So We have $37 trillion in federal debt. [00:02:01] And, when interest rates are higher, obviously that debt becomes more expensive. He wants interest rates to go down. So our debt is a little less expensive. Servicing our debt won't cost as much, but it is a little bit of a problem. [00:02:17] Right. That, this so-called big, beautiful bill adds another 4 to $5 trillion to the federal debt. That's what he's thinking about. That's what he's worried about. And rather than do the right thing in, you know, maybe reining in these goodies [00:02:33] that billionaires are going to be getting as a result of that big, beautiful bill, Trump has decided to direct his ire toward Jerome Powell, who's worried about overstimulating the market at a time when Trump's trade policies could lead to higher inflation. [00:02:50] That's what's going on here. Now, about a week ago, Powell made clear that the Federal Reserve has decided to wait and see what type of inflationary pressure Trump's trade policies will have on the US economy. Take a look. For the time being, we are well positioned to wait to learn more about the likely [00:03:07] course of the economy before considering any adjustments to our policy stance. Are we in a position where where it would be appropriate to do something? As as big as a half percent cut again? Well, look, as I, as I said earlier, if not for if you just look at the, [00:03:24] the basic data and don't look at the forecast, you would say that we would have continued cutting. The difference, of course, is at this time, all forecasters are expecting pretty soon that that some significant inflation will show up from tariffs now. [00:03:40] And you know we can't just ignore that. But but we're not we're not we're just saying let's wait and see more. That's all we're doing. And that has absolutely infuriated Trump. So Trump's ever changing tariff agenda has caused months of deep uncertainty [00:03:56] for global markets and businesses, as NBC news reports. Many have struggled to make predictions and plan ahead for duties that have shifted. Sometimes with no warning other than social media posts by the president. So it's not just that Trump is threatening these massive tariffs on goods that are [00:04:16] being imported from our trade partners, it's that he goes back and forth. He wavers. You don't know what he's actually going to land on in terms of his trade policies. And so that uncertainty, of course, is making, you know, the Federal Reserve a little uneasy. [00:04:33] And they want to wait and see what happens. Now, Powell shared that sentiment on Tuesday this week when Bloomberg News anchor Francine Lacqua asked point blank if the fed would have cut interest rates or cut interest rates more because they have [00:04:50] actually cut interest rates a little bit. But if they would cut interest rates even more if it weren't for Trump's trade policies. Let's take a look at how he answered. Chair. Would the fed have cut more by now if it weren't for the tariffs? [00:05:05] So I do think I think that's right. We're in effect. We went on hold when we when we saw the size of the tariffs and where and essentially all all inflation forecasts for the United States went up materially as a consequence of the tariffs. Now President Trump responded honestly how you would expect him to. [00:05:27] We're doing well as a country. If the fed would ever lower rates, you know, would buy debt for a lot less. It's a shame. This guy I have a guy. Do you ever have a guy that's not a smart person and you're dealing with him and you have to deal. He's not a smart guy, a stupid person. Frankly, at the fed, the only thing is we have a fed chairman [00:05:44] that is, He doesn't get it. I'd love him to resign if he wanted to. He's done a lousy job. The president sent a letter to Jerome Powell, essentially calling on him to once again lower interest rates to what he said should be 1%. And he sent this [00:06:01] handwritten letter on top of what was essentially a printout of World Central Bank rates from around the world. And he notes on this letter that you can see on your screen that there are 34 central banks around the world that have lower interest rates [00:06:16] than the United States. Yeah. No, no. That's true. Other countries do have lower interest rates. Their central banks have implemented lower interest rates than the interest rates we have here in the United States. That is absolutely true. You know what's also absolutely true? [00:06:33] And this is something that Trump, who's calling Jerome Powell stupid, should probably take note of. Those other countries haven't slapped massive tariffs on imported goods that would lead to inflation for their consumers. So there's there's a puzzle piece there that Trump isn't addressing at all. [00:06:51] He's treating all of these countries as if they're all being led by the same person who's implementing the same policies, but that is not the case. And, look, the leaders of those countries, again, they have different policies. [00:07:06] I don't know what the policies are for every single one of those countries that have lower interest rates than we do. But I think what Jerome Powell, I can't believe I'm saying this because I'm not a huge fan of Jerome Powell, but I actually do want to commend him for wanting to remain independent, not caving to pressure from President Trump and continuing in the path [00:07:26] that he thinks is appropriate, given the uncertainty that's been brought upon us as a result of Trump's wavering trade policies. And look, if you're wondering, okay, well, how are those trade negotiations going? I kind of want to give you a little update. [00:07:41] Want to give you a little update. I know there's been a lot going on in the news. People haven't been paying close attention to these trade negotiations that Trump would have you believe are going really well, but they're not going really well. Okay, so let me just give you two examples, beginning with Vietnam. Those negotiations have concluded with Trump announcing Vietnam [00:08:01] trade deal 20% tariff on steel imports to the United States. You're going to pay for that. You, the American consumer, are going to pay for that. There's more. Vietnam also agreed that goods would be hit with a 40% tariff rate [00:08:16] if they originated in another country and were transferred to Vietnam for final shipment to the United States. So what are American consumers going to get out of that, exactly? Kind of hard to understand. We're going to pay more for goods that are produced in Vietnam. [00:08:35] We're not manufacturing those goods here in the United States. Doesn't look good if that's the art of the deal. I don't know if that's considered a good deal, maybe I want some bad deals because that's awful. But there's more. [00:08:50] Another big trade partner of ours is Japan, of course, and things are looking pretty bleak because Japan's like, yeah, no, we're not going to cave to your demands. After failing to cut a trade deal with Japan following weeks of talks, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamison Greer [00:09:08] decided to turn up the pressure. Okay, the Americans said they might demand a cap on the number of vehicles Japan could export to the U.S., a policy known as a voluntary export restriction. Well, I'm sure Japanese officials were like, oh my God, we better give the U.S. [00:09:27] Everything they want. But the Japanese officials stood their ground from the start. They had told the Americans they wouldn't agree to any deal that preserves Trump's 25% automotive tariff, according to people familiar with the conversations. [00:09:47] On Monday, Trump appeared to cut off talks with Tokyo. Art of the deal. So here's a good way to sum up how things are going with these trade negotiations. Administration officials attempting to negotiate multiple deals [00:10:04] have at times contradicted one another about goals and timelines, and Trump has further muddied the picture. The chaotic situation has left Japan and other countries bewildered, unsure of what the white House wants or when they have to deliver a deal. [00:10:23] And by the way, just to reiterate something that I've been saying repeatedly while covering Trump's trade policies, I am not necessarily against tariffs. I actually think free trade has been pretty disastrous for sectors of the American economy. [00:10:39] I am open to tariffs. This, though, is chaos. It's nonsense. And rather than maybe do a little bit of self-reflection and pivot to a better policy, Trump is deciding to lash out at Jerome Powell for not being his little puppet, [00:10:57] who just lowers interest rates on demand. And by the way, Federal Reserve, of course, is supposed to be an independent body. It's not supposed to be influenced by Congress or the executive branch. It is supposed to act independently. Now, Powell has repeatedly defended the central bank's independence, [00:11:16] by the way, and I should note that the Supreme Court bolstered the Fed's independence in a ruling just last month. So Powell is defending the decision to hold interest rates steady, saying on Tuesday of this week that as long as the U.S. Economy is in solid shape, the prudent thing to do is to wait and learn more [00:11:36] and see what the effect might be. We haven't seen effects much from tariffs and we didn't expect to buy now. We have always said the timing, amount and persistence would be highly uncertain. [00:11:51] And asked about the impact of Trump's insult laden criticism, here's what Powell said. Quote, I'm very focused on just doing my job. He said the only two things that matter to him and fellow rate setting officials are full employment and price stability. [00:12:07] The two sides of the Fed's so-called dual mandate. The ECB conference attendees applauded his response. Now Trump has also expanded his attacks. He's not just attacking Jerome Powell anymore. He's attacking the entire committee that sets interest rates, [00:12:24] saying that its members should be ashamed, ashamed of their monetary policy. Well, they're not. The board just sits there, he says, and watches. So they are equally to blame. We should be paying 1% interest or better. [00:12:40] As for Powell's possible successor, look, he could remain as a board member all the way through January of 2028 if he chooses to. But his term as chair doesn't end soon. It ends in May of 2026. So he's got another two years. [00:12:57] No, wait, one year it's 25. So he's got another year at least serving as the chair if he chooses to remain in that position. Refuses to resign. And, it would be a wonderful act of defiance for him to serve his term [00:13:12] and then decide what he does after that. But he shouldn't cave to Trump. Trump should, for once in his life, understand what you do sometimes has consequences. If you pursue a chaotic, ham handed tariffs policy. [00:13:27] There will be consequences. And he's experiencing it right now but just refuses to accept it. Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets his wings. Totally not true, but it does keep you updated on our live shows.