Trump Slams Fed Over Interest Rate Hike: 'US Credit is the Best'

President Donald Trump lashed out at the Federal Reserve after its first interest rate hike in over three years, urging the central bank to lower rates and claiming the US has the 'Best Credit in the World.' In a Twitter post, Trump insisted interest rates should be '1%, or less,' despite the Fed's decision to raise its benchmark rate by a quarter point to 3.75-4%.

The move was engineered by Kevin Warsh, the chairman Trump elevated to the job after months of bullying his predecessor, Jerome Powell, over interest rates he considered too high. The committee's statement gave little comfort to a president demanding rate cuts, noting inflation remains elevated and that 'today's policy action will support a timelier return to the Committee's 2% goal.'

Warsh offered no forecast of his own at Wednesday's press conference, an omission NPR attributed to his general reluctance to hand markets forward guidance that could 'tie the Fed's hands.' Trump's post came as he was leaving to campaign in North Carolina for Senate candidate Michael Whatley.