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Trump demands lower interest rates after the Fed's first rate hike since 2023
September 18, 2026
Hours after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates, Trump demanded lower rates and said he had told Kevin Warsh to vote with the board.
Kevin Warsh chairs the Federal Reserve, which sets interest rates in the United States and is built to sit apart from party pressure in Washington, and President Donald Trump nominated him.
Key facts
- Trump, who has pushed hard and often for far cheaper credit, 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, who has said again and again that during his second term the country has drawn $20 trillion or more, wrote: "Our Country is BOOMING with new Investment!"
- "They're raising the rates to make Trump do as bad as they can possibly can do," the president said on his way to an event backing Michael Whatley, a Republican running for the Senate.
- “It’s an unusual and unfortunate comment to make. Clearly, the Fed chair does not need the president’s permission to raise rates,” Eric Rosengren, who once headed the Boston Fed, said Thursday.
CNBC reports that Trump, in a Truth Social post issued after the Fed's rate decision, demanded lower interest rates and insisted borrowing costs in the United States should be 1%, or less. One account has Trump telling reporters he had spoken with Kevin Warsh, his handpicked Fed chairman, and encouraging him to vote with the board because the outcome was already decided without him. The same pair of remarks from the president runs through the coverage, that the board is hostile and political and that he is relying on Warsh. Reuters carries commentary arguing Trump may not see another rate cut while he is president. The New York Times carries the same account of a president who criticizes the board and spares the chairman he chose.
The outlets agree on the sequence. CNBC reports that the hike was the central bank's first since 2023 and that in the updated projections most Fed officials, by a wide margin, look for a further increase. People who have worked inside the system reacted with disbelief. Eric Rosengren, who once led the Boston Federal Reserve Bank, said the comment was unusual and unfortunate and that raising rates is not something a Fed chair needs a president to allow. Tim Mahedy, chief economist at Access/Macro and a former official at the IMF and the San Francisco Fed, said he found Warsh's response strange. Guha said the market believes Warsh owned the decision and that the committee stood with him. Warsh, asked at Wednesday's press conference when he last spoke with the president, said he had nothing to offer on those discussions, and, "Independence is a two-way street," he told the room.
The president's words and the timing of the Fed's action are consistent across the coverage. What sits outside that agreement is the meaning each account draws out, with one weighing the remarks against the promises of Fed independence and another weighing them against how far Warsh is consulting the president who nominated him.
“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
Warsh's answer about his discussions with the president stands as the last development at the time of draft.
How settled the reporting is
Sources
- CNBC — Trump says he told Warsh to vote for hike with the rest of Fed board: 'It's not going to matter'
- CNN — Kevin Warsh just defied Donald Trump. Now what?
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.