Fresh attacks

Trump slams Fed in fresh attack, says central bank can't 'mentally’ keep up

By QUINT FORGEY

President Donald Trump on Wednesday leveled a new attack against the Federal Reserve, charging that the central bank is “mentally” unfit to foster a competitive edge for the United States in the global economy.

“Our Federal Reserve cannot ‘mentally’ keep up with the competition - other countries. At the G-7 in France, all of the other Leaders were giddy about how low their Interest Costs have gone,” Trump tweeted. “Germany is actually ‘getting paid’ to borrow money - ZERO INTEREST PLUS! No Clue Fed!”

Trump also lashed out Tuesday afternoon, tweeting that the Fed “loves watching our manufacturers struggle with their exports to the benefit of other parts of the world.”

He continued: “Has anyone looked at what almost all other countries are doing to take advantage of the good old USA? Our Fed has been calling it wrong for too long!”

The president has intensified his criticism of the Fed in recent days, urging it to aggressively slash interest rates as economic indicators point toward a possible recession and as the administration’s trade conflict with China continues to escalate.

The steady broadsides from the White House reached a new peak Friday when Trump wondered on Twitter whether Jerome Powell, his handpicked Fed chairman, or Xi Jinping, the communist leader of China, is America’s “bigger enemy” after Powell did not explicitly pledge rate cuts.

It is unclear whether Trump’s fellow heads of government at the weekend’s G-7 summit in Biarritz, France, were indeed “giddy” about their interest costs.

Trump on Sunday tweeted about another dubious sentiment purportedly expressed by world leaders at the annual convocation, writing online that “the question I was asked most today … happens to be, ‘Mr. President, why does the American media hate your Country so much? Why are they rooting for it to fail?’”