Hassett serves Trump administrators as contact with the Federal Reserve

Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, is set up to serve as a key point of contact for the Trump administration with the Federal Reserve Chairman. Jerome Powell As the fight against inflation continues.

Hassett has appeared CBS News ‘Face the Nation’ On Sunday, he told host Margaret Brennan he plans to hold regular luncheons with Powell and other central bank policymakers.

“Just this weekend, I arranged once again to start regular lunches with Jay Powell in the Federal Reserve,” Hassett said. “Jay and I have a long, consensual relationship and I’m going to go there with him and the other governor.”

“So we talked about our opinions on what’s going on, we heard him, what has been going on for four years when I was here before, and the president has had so many. I value that,” he said.

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Brennan began asking Hassett if those meetings were intended to have an impact Federal Reserve System He replied that the decision on monetary policy when he replied, “Jay is an independent person,” and that the Fed’s independence is respected.

“The point is, you can hear the president’s opinion… he is the president of the United States. But here’s what I find interesting.

“One way to determine whether the market thinks ‘controlling inflation’ is to look at long-term interest rates that the Fed has no direct impact. Around 40 basis points in the past few weeks while we announce our plans Controls inflation. It saved Americans about $40 billion … from talking about what we’re trying to do,” he added.

Inflation rose 3% in January, hotter than expected

president Donald Trump He repeatedly criticized Powell and called on the Fed to lower interest rates. Powell had testified in Congress about monetary policy, but Trump once again posted that the central bank should cut interest rates.

“We need to lower interest rates. This is something we’ll be holding hands with future tariffs!!!” Trump said in the post A true society. “Rock and roll, America, America!!”

Powell’s testimony shows that central banks pursue a steady price double mission, so the Fed will lower interest rates as they wait for more data to show inflation is back to a 2% target rate He repeated his stance that there was no need to “hurry” to do so. Maximum employment.

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“There’s no need to hurry to adjust policy stance,” Powell told the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday. “I know that policy suppression too quickly or too much can hinder inflationary progress, while at the same time, slow or too little can lead to unfair weakening of economic activity and employment if policy suppression is slow or too little can lead to unfair reductions in economic activity and employment. It’s there.”

The Fed says it remains unchanged at its latest policy meeting in January amidst stubborn inflation and resilient labor markets, waiting for data showing low inflation.

Consumer Price Index (CPI) – Popular inflation gauge – The temperature was higher than expected last week at 3% per year in January. That figure rose from 2.9% a month ago, but fell from 3.1% in January 2024.

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Core CPI also rose 0.1% to 3.3% per year since last month. That metric was 3.9% in January 2024.