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Trump Tells the Fed to Cut Rates or He Will "Stop Trading" With Every Country the U.S. Runs a Deficit With — Ten Days Before a Meeting His Own Fed Chair Is Signaling Will Raise Them
September 6, 2026
On Friday, September 4, 2026, hours after a jobs report showed employers added 162,000 jobs in August, President Trump posted a Truth Social ultimatum telling the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates or he would cut off trade with every country that runs a surplus with the United States: "LOWER THE RATE OR I'LL STOP TRADING WITH COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE HAVE A DEFICIT." He told the Fed Board it "must get smart — BE PATRIOTS for a change." The threat capped an unusually broad week-long pressure campaign: Vice President JD Vance told a White House briefing on September 3 that it was "proper and responsible" for the Fed to lower rates; National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett said on September 4 that the administration "respect[s] their independence" but that the case for holding steady was "pretty strong"; and senior economic counselor Peter Navarro, in a Friday interview with Steve Bannon, called members of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee "clowns" and said a hike would be "careless." The target of the campaign is Trump's own hand-picked Fed chair. Kevin Warsh, confirmed in May 2026 in the closest vote in modern history, used his Jackson Hole speech in late August to say the Fed's focus needed to be squarely on inflation, and markets put the odds of a quarter-point hike at the September 15-16 meeting at roughly 60 percent. The meeting falls eight weeks before midterm elections in which polling shows widespread voter anger over prices — a frustration Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) described on "Meet the Press" on September 6 as inflation "gutting people like a fish," while conceding his own party was unlikely to do anything about it before November.
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“We’ve got a few Republicans on the Senate side that are kind of like the feral kid in Mad Max 2.
“That inflation is a big if. And it’s gutting people like a fish.
“What I’m saying, very simply, is that we should be paying the lowest interest rate in the world.
“Great jobs number just announced, breaking all estimates (except mine!) by double and triple – And you haven’t seen anything yet! EMPLOYERS ADDED 162,000 JOB IN AUGUST. Lower the interest rates because the U.S.A. is a much stronger credit than it was just a short time ago! A STRONG COUNTRY MEANS A LOWER INTEREST RATE – IT’S A BETTER CREDIT…Very simple! We should have the LOWEST RATE of any country in the World, like “the old days.” Without the United States agreeing to allow them their big surpluses, and we could stop that immediately, they would no longer be considered financially ELITE! LOWER THE RATE OR I’LL STOP TRADING WITH COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE HAVE A DEFICIT, which the U.S. Supreme Court, in its ridiculous and very costly Tariff decision, strongly acknowledged “the President” has an absolute right to do. IT’S BETTER THAN TARIFFS! The Fed Board, with its great new leader, must get smart – BE PATRIOTS for a change. High interest rates put the U.S.A. at a very unfair disadvantage, and I won’t allow that to happen!
“If the CPI continues to be that favorable in the next report, then you know, the Fed will do what it wants to do. We respect their independence, but I think the argument for holding steady would be pretty strong.
“We feel quite confident that if you look at the inflation numbers, if you look at the CPI numbers, that it’s proper and responsible for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates.
“Our view, and this has been a consistent message from the president and the rest of the administration on down, is that we believe that the Fed should be lowering interest rates.