Trump says Powell is costing the US a fortune by not lowering rates. But firing the Fed chair may not fix the issue

As part of his campaign to get rid of Jerome Powell, President Donald Trump has blamed the Federal Reserve chair for costing the country “hundreds of billions of dollars” by not slashing interest rates.

As part of his campaign to get rid of Jerome Powell, President Donald Trump has blamed the Federal Reserve chair for costing the country “hundreds of billions of dollars” by not slashing interest rates. “You have cost the USA a fortune and continue to do so,” Trump wrote in a handwritten note to Powell that he posted on Truth Social last month. “You should lower that rate by a lot. Hundreds of billions of dollars are being lost.” In the same post, Trump blamed the Fed board, saying, “If they were doing their job properly, our Country would be saving Trillions of Dollars in Interest Cost … We should be paying 1% Interest, or better!” Trump’s focus on interest costs comes at a time of renewed attention on the nation’s skyrocketing interest payments on its ever-growing federal debt. Interest payments this fiscal year are nearing $1 trillion for the first time in the nation’s history. The president just signed the ‘big, beautiful bill,’ which is expected to add more than $3 trillion to the deficit over the next decade and push interest rates even higher. And Moody’s recently downgraded the US debt in part because of the increase in government debt and interest payment ratios. But even if Trump succeeds in pressuring the Fed to reduce rates, it may not significantly lighten the nation’s interest payment burden, experts said. The federal funds rate is only one of the factors that influences the interest rates on the federal debt, which is made up of a mix of short-term, medium-length and longer-duration Treasury securities.