(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is set to visit the Federal Reserve on Thursday, ratcheting up pressure on the central bank after his repeated calls for lower interest rates.
It marks the first official trip to the Fed taken by a sitting president in almost 20 years.
The extraordinary move comes roughly a week after Trump said he had discussed with a group of Republican lawmakers the possibility of firing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, before walking back such plans, calling them “highly unlikely.”
This episode sent stock prices tumbling and bond yields climbing, until Trump’s disavowal restored calm to the markets.
Since Trump took office, he has sharply criticized Powell and frequently urged the Fed to cut interest rates.
“We have a man who just refuses to lower the Fed rate,” Trump said of Powell last month. “Maybe I should go to the Fed. Am I allowed to appoint myself? I’d do a much better job than these people.”
The Fed is an independent agency established by Congress. Trump is legally barred from appointing himself the head of the central bank.
Trump also slammed Powell for alleged overspending tied to the central bank’s $2.5 billion building renovation project.
The Fed attributes spending overruns to unforeseen cost increases, saying that its building renovation will ultimately “reduce costs over time by allowing the Board to consolidate most of its operations,” according to the central bank’s website.
Federal law allows the president to remove the Fed chair for “cause” — though no precedent exists for such an ouster. Powell’s term as chair is set to expire in May 2026.
The Fed has held interest rates steady for seven consecutive months, taking up a wait-and-see approach as it observes potential effects of Trump’s tariff policy.
Earlier this month, Powell said he would not rule out a potential interest rate cut as soon as the Fed’s next meeting on July 29 and 30.
“I wouldn’t take any meeting off the table or put any on the table,” Powell told the audience at the European Central Bank forum in Sinatra, Portugal. “It depends on how the data evolve.”
Trump is the first president to visit the Fed since President George W. Bush attended the swearing-in ceremony of Fed Chair Ben Bernanke in 2006. That ceremony marked only the third visit of a president to the Fed, Bernanke noted in his remarks on the day.
Franklin Roosevelt visited when he dedicated the building in 1937 and Gerald Ford visited in 1975, according to Bernanke. He served in the role until 2014.
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