Trump Slams Fed Over Interest Rate Hikes, Says They're Afraid of Inflation

US President Donald Trump has urged the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates in its next policy meeting, saying that the central bank is 'afraid of inflation'. The comments came on the same day the FOMC released minutes of the July 28-29 meeting, which showed that many policymakers expected higher rates to be necessary unless inflation shows more progress.

Trump argued that interest rates should decrease when good economic numbers are announced, as they did in the past. However, he claimed that the current Fed officials are driving up interest rates due to their fear of inflation. He also accused some Fed officials of having political motives behind their decisions.

The President pointed out that the US economy grew at 1.5% year-over-year in the second quarter, below expectations and the 2.1% rate in the first three months of the year. Trump mentioned that he had nominated Kevin Warsh to be the Fed Chairman earlier this year, but excluded him from his criticism.

Warsh has been doing a 'great job' as the acting chairman since May, succeeding Jerome Powell who remains on the board as a governor. However, Trump stated that the problem lies in the fact that there are many Obama and Biden appointees on the board, which he believes vote to raise interest rates due to their political connections.