Overview

• Trump posted a handwritten note on Truth Social listing global central bank rates and urging Powell to cut U.S. rates to 1–2%, accusing him of costing the country “a fortune.”
• The president told reporters he would not appoint a new Fed chair without a pledge for immediate rate cuts and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said a successor nomination could come as early as October.
• Speaking in Sintra, Portugal, Powell reiterated that the Fed paused planned cuts after Trump’s tariffs raised inflation forecasts and that any future move will depend strictly on incoming economic data.
• Governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, both Trump appointees, indicated they would likely support a rate reduction at the Fed’s July 29–30 meeting despite lingering tariff uncertainty.
• The White House’s campaign tests the Fed’s legal protections for chair tenure and underscores a broader battle over central bank independence and economic governance.