Trump Rages Against “Enemy” Federal Reserve Chair, “Orders” US Companies To Stop Working With China

CNBC reports:

President Donald Trump again ripped into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Friday, questioning whether he is a “bigger enemy” to the United States than Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Trump tweeted his attack, which misspelled the central bank chief’s name before it was corrected, not long after Powell delivered a speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

As he uses tariffs to try to force China to change what he calls unfair trade practices, Trump has repeatedly said he does not blame Xi, a communist leader who has consolidated power in China.

The New York Times reports:

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell on Friday kept future interest rate cuts squarely on the table but suggested the central bank is limited in its ability to counteract President Trump’s trade policies, which are stoking uncertainty and posing risks to the economic outlook.

“While monetary policy is a powerful tool that works to support consumer spending, business investment, and public confidence, it cannot provide a settled rule book for international trade,” Mr. Powell, speaking in Jackson, Wyo., said at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s annual symposium.

Yahoo News reports:



President Donald Trump on Friday used a tweet to order U.S. companies to find an alternative to doing business with China, as he lashed out at Beijing’s latest round of retaliatory tariffs and pledged to respond to them later in the day.

It was unclear exactly what Trump meant with the order or how much force it has, but the tweets captured the president’s frustration as his escalating trade war with China weighs on the economy and heightens the risk of a recession during an election year.