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US President Donald Trump during a meeting with Chancellor of Germany Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office of the White House on Thursday June 5, 2025.
Demetrius Freeman | The Washington Post | Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Friday urged Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to slash interest rates by a full percentage point, despite a better-than-expected result from the Labor Department's latest jobs report.
Trump, who has regularly badgered Powell to cut rates in order to boost the economy, argued for a full-point cut even as he maintained that the country is "doing great."
"Go for a full point, Rocket Fuel!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The president's latest jab at the central bank chairman — a previously unprecedented dynamic that has become routine during Trump's second term — came shortly after the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that U.S. hiring decreased less than expected in May.
Nonfarm payrolls rose 139,000 for the month, exceeding Dow Jones estimates for 125,000. The figure fell slightly below the downwardly revised 147,000 that the U.S. economy added in April.
Analysts had braced for a weaker result that would reflect the impact of Trump's tariff policies and other signs of a potentially slowing economy.
In a follow-up post Friday morning, Trump argued that the cuts would enable the U.S. to lower both long- and short-term rates "on debt that is coming due."
The president added that even if inflation should flare back up, Powell could just ratchet rates higher in response.
"Very Simple!!! He is costing our Country a fortune," Trump wrote of Powell. "Borrowing costs should be MUCH LOWER!!!"
Trump peppered his latest demand with the same insults he has previously aimed at the central bank chairman.
"'Too Late' at the Fed is a disaster!" Trump said of Powell, adding that the U.S. economy was only thriving "despite him."
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