Trump ramps up pressure on the Fed, saying the 'very misguided' central bank should 'move now' to cut interest rates

• President Donald Trump lambasted the Federal Reserve on Monday, urging policymakers to lower interest rates at its policy meeting next week.
• That marked the latest broadside on the independent central bank, adding to an unprecedented campaign as his 2020 reelection campaign heats up.
• The president has separately attempted to install political allies at the top of the central bank and suggested the US should artificially weaken the dollar.
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President Donald Trump lambasted the Federal Reserve for its policy decisions once again on Monday, amplifying an unprecedented degree of pressure on the independent central bank ahead of its policy meeting next week.

"With almost no inflation, our Country is needlessly being forced to pay a MUCH higher interest rate than other countries only because of a very misguided Federal Reserve," the president wrote on Twitter.

"It is far more costly for the Federal Reserve to cut deeper if the economy actually does, in the future, turn down! Very inexpensive, in fact productive, to move now," he added. "The Fed raised & tightened far too much & too fast. In other words, they missed it (Big!). Don't miss it again!"

The comments added to Trump's increasingly forceful pressure campaign on the Fed, which operates independent of the White House. Eyeing his 2020 reelection campaign, the president has launched attacks on Chairman Jerome Powell, attempted to install political allies at the central bank and repeatedly directed policymakers to slash interest rates.

The Fed is expected to lower interest rates next week at the end of a two-day meeting, but forecasters are split on how large the adjustment will be. Policymakers are weighing strains on the economy - including Trump's ongoing trade wars and below-target inflation - against otherwise solid growth.

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Trump also suggested on Friday the Fed should return to a crisis-era program called quantitative easing, which began injecting trillions of dollars into the economy in 2008. He argued that monetary policy at home and alleged currency manipulation abroad have made it harder for the US to compete.

"Interest rate costs should have been much lower, & GDP & our Country's wealth accumulation much higher. Such a waste of time & money," he continued in the tweetstorm. "Also, very unfair that other countries manipulate their currencies and pump money in!"

Bloomberg News reported this month that Trump has asked aides to look into ways to weaken the dollar. Experts said that move would amount to currency manipulation, a practice that could undermine US credibility abroad.