Trump backs ‘fantastic’ Warsh; calls for lower rates; cites others’ ‘bad intentions’

President Donald Trump on Monday voiced support for Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh while insisting that the U.S. should have the lowest interest rates in the world.

While backing his choice to lead the central bank, Trump questioned the motives of other members of the Fed’s Board of Governors for not wanting to ease monetary policy.

“Kevin’s fantastic, but he’s got a board, and the board members are very political, I would say,” the president said during a session with reporters on Air Force One. “He wants to do the right thing. I know what he wants to do.”

The president’s comments came two days before the bank’s Federal Open Market Committee, or FOMC, releases its latest interest rate decision. Markets are pricing in a strong chance that officials will vote to stay on hold, as they have all year, though they’re leaving open about a 1-in-3 chance of quarter percentage point hike, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

Several Fed officials in recent days have expressed concern about persistently high inflation. Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan, a voting FOMC member this year, was the most explicit in calling for tighter policy, saying benchmark rates should be “modestly higher.”

In his remarks, Trump, as he has done in the past, accused Fed officials of having ulterior motives.

“You need the consent of some people that have perhaps bad intentions. Rates should be lowered. This country could be at 8%, 9%, 10%, 12% [annualized growth of] GDP. That’s what it should be,” he said.

“We should have the lowest interest rate in the world, like it used to be 30 years ago,” he added.

The Fed’s benchmark overnight borrowing rate is currently targeted in a range between 3.5%-3.75%, where it has been since the central bank lowered by three-quarters of a percentage point in second half of 2025.

The rate is essentially the same as the Bank of England, but is above the 2.25% for the European Central Bank, Japan’s 1% and China’s 3%.