US President Donald Trump stepped up his criticism of the Federal Reserve after the central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to a 3.75 per cent-4 per cent target range, accusing the Fed board of being “very political” and acting against him.Speaking to reporters ahead of his midterm campaign rally in North Carolina, Trump intensified his attack on the Fed, saying the board was “very hostile” towards him and accusing its members of making decisions for “political reasons”.“The board is very hostile. They’re very political. They’re doing the wrong thing. They’re a bunch of politicians,” Trump said.He also accused the board of raising rates to hurt his presidency, saying, “They’re raising rates to make Trump do as bad as they can possibly do.”Trump repeatedly said during the rally that “Interest rates are too high”.The president said he had spoken to Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, whom he nominated, before the rate decision and told him, “You might as well vote with the board because it’s not going to matter.” Despite his criticism of the board, Trump said he wanted Warsh to remain independent and said he still had confidence in the Fed chair.Meanwhile, in his Truth Social post before the rally remarks, Trump also argued that the US could gain at least $1.5 trillion a year by ending trade with countries with which it runs a deficit.“If we stopped Trading with every country that we have a Deficit with, which is most of them, we would make, at least, 1.5 Trillion Dollars a year,” he said.Trump added, “The word ‘Deficit’ is nothing more than a fancy word for LOSS. We are ‘carrying’ almost every country in the World, and that cannot go on any longer.”Trump’s call came to lower rates this time came as the Federal Open Market Committee raised its target range to 3.75 per cent-4 per cent on Wednesday, marking the first US rate hike since 2023.The Fed said economic activity was expanding at a solid pace, with resilient domestic spending, strong productivity growth and robust capital investment. However, it said inflation remained elevated and that the rate increase would support a return to its 2% inflation goal.Fed Chair Kevin Warsh defended the decision, saying, “The plain fact is that inflation is too high and has been for too long.”“We must be confident that underlying inflation is moving to our objective clearly and at sufficient speed. Today the FOMC decided that this standard has not been satisfied,” Warsh said.The White House had earlier criticised the rate hike as “unfortunate”. Senior deputy press secretary Kush Desai said higher rates would “stymie the economic progress” made under the Trump administration, raise mortgage costs and make it harder for businesses to expand.Read more: ‘Inflation too high for too long’: US Fed hikes interest rates for first time since 2023The Fed’s latest projections indicate that policymakers expect one more rate increase this year, while rates are projected to remain unchanged in 2027. Officials also raised their inflation forecast for 2026 to 3.7 per cent from 3.6 per cent previously and now expect inflation to return to the 2 per cent target only in 2029. The Fed last raised its benchmark rate in July 2023, when it increased the target range to 5.25%-5.50%.The unemployment rate stood at 4.1 per cent in August, and Fed officials expect it to remain around that level through the end of 2026 and over the following years.
