Trump Wants Powell Out, Administration Risks Contempt, and Homegrowns Are Next
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What is President Trump saying about Jerome Powell?
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President Trump is feuding with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. In a post on his Truth Social account, Trump said Powell's termination, quote, cannot come soon enough, unquote. Now, it isn't clear whether the president was calling for the Fed chair to be dismissed immediately or at the end of his term in May of 2026. In his post, Trump said Powell was, quote, too late and wrong, unquote, on interest rates. This all comes as Americans are feeling gloomier about the economy.
Let's talk to NPR's Scott Horsley. So, Scott, what can you tell us about the tension between Trump and Powell?
Well, President Trump has been urging the Fed for some time to lower interest rates. He always wants to see borrowing costs as low as they can be. But the president's making that more difficult, actually, with his trade war. Chairman Jerome Powell gave a speech in Chicago yesterday where he warned that Trump's tariffs will almost certainly push prices in the U.S. higher, at least in the short term. And that suggests interest rates may need to stay elevated in order to avoid rekindling inflation. Now, you know, the president's social media post this morning criticizing that move and saying that the Fed is too late to cut interest rates certainly raises the temperature between Trump and Powell. The Fed chairman's term does run through next May.
And Powell has been adamant that he plans to serve out that term. He has tried to keep a low profile and avoid antagonizing the president. But that's a favor that Trump has not returned.
Yeah. And, you know, when I think about like the way people have thought about spending, I mean, spending was up last month. So, I mean, if there's all this uncertainty, why are people spending money?
Well, people are spending money in large part to avoid Trump's tariffs. A lot of the spending that we saw in March was at auto dealers. Auto sales were up almost 6% last month. And that suggests people were maybe advancing their car purchases to beat the tariffs that took effect at the beginning of April. And with good reason. The Center for Automotive Research says those new import taxes will add between $4,000 and $9,000 to the price of a new car. So if you can get in early, they can save some serious money. Even domestic cars typically contain a lot of imported parts, so they're going to get more expensive as well.
Now, where else should we look for the effects of these tariffs if we're kind of trying to search for them?
Well, you know, if people splurged in March to get ahead of the tariffs, we're likely to see some payback in the months to come with reduced spending. Gene Sirocco heads the Port of Los Angeles, which is one of the busiest container ports in the country. It handles a lot of cargo traffic coming in from Asia. Of course, China's been hit with these triple digit tariffs in the Trump era.
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