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Trump demands 1% rates hours
September 17, 2026
President Donald Trump demanded interest rates of 1% or less in a Truth Social post hours after the Federal Reserve announced its first rate hike since 2023.
Kevin Warsh chairs the Federal Reserve, whose Federal Open Market Committee sets the U.S. benchmark interest rate and is legally mandated to operate independently of the White House.
Key facts
- Trump, who has pushed the Fed hard to cut borrowing costs sharply, wrote in his Truth post that American rates "should be 1%, or less, because we are the Best Credit in the World — BY FAR."
- Trump wrote, "Our Country is BOOMING with new Investment!" — a line CNBC paired with his repeated assertion that the country has taken in $20 trillion or more since his second term began.
- Raising the base rate, together with Warsh's pledge to drive inflation down to the Fed's 2% goal, should help persuade doubters that the central bank is still independent in practice as well as in law.
- Ahead of an appearance for Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley, the president said, "They're raising the rates to make Trump do as bad as they can possibly can do."
CNBC reports that Trump demanded a cut to 1% or less in a Truth Social post published hours after the Federal Reserve announced its first rate hike since 2023, and that he aimed his anger at the other voting members of the Federal Open Market Committee rather than at Warsh. Fortune reports the same sequence, adding that Trump called the board hostile and political, said he told Warsh he might as well vote with the board because it would not matter, and argued the economy can absorb higher rates. The Financial Times ties Warsh to a refusal to deliver the lower borrowing costs the president keeps asking for, and The New York Times casts Trump as increasingly alone on rates.
The accounts diverge on how firmly Trump stands behind Warsh. One has the president stating plain confidence in his own nominee while demanding a rate of 1% or less. Another weighs that support against his charge that the committee raised rates for political reasons, and reads the two as difficult to hold together. The gap comes from emphasis, since each side draws on a different part of the same afternoon of remarks.
The order of events and the substance of the demand hold across the coverage. The Fed raised its benchmark, Trump answered on Truth Social, and he directed his ire at the FOMC while leaving his nominee in place. Fortune reports that markets tend to look through his comments until policy action follows, and that Warsh has committed to bringing inflation to the Fed's 2% target. The weight of the president's backing for Warsh stays open.
“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,” wrote Trump.
Trump
Still developing
Trump's confidence in Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh remains open, and the accounts hold it differently.
How settled the reporting is
Sources
- CNBC — Trump says he still has confidence in Fed Chair Warsh, demands 1% or lower interest rates
- Fortune — 'It's a raise against Trump:' Despite inflation being ahead of target for five years, Trump brands latest hike as political
- Financial Times — Kevin Warsh defies Donald Trump’s calls for lower borrowing costs
Toggle read the full reports of 2 of the 4 outlets counted on this event. The other 2 are counted from their headlines and opening sentences.