Trump Renews Push for Fed Rate Cut Amid Hike Pressure

President Donald Trump told reporters at the Irish Open in Doonbeg, Ireland, on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, that the United States should be paying the lowest interest rate in the world no matter what Federal Reserve data show on inflation and the economy. He said he did not know whether policymakers would raise rates at their meeting. That meeting comes after the Labor Department's Consumer Price Index recorded its largest rise in four months the prior Friday and falls weeks before the midterm elections. Trump added that he knows more about formulas than anybody and that with the best credit in the world the U.S. makes other countries rich. Two weeks earlier he had posted that rates must be lowered or he would stop trading with countries running deficits with the United States. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said on Fox News Sunday that Trump will defend the independence of Fed Chair Kevin Warsh above all, whatever the Fed does on rates, while adding that Trump would not be super happy about a hike. Bloomberg presented the remarks as a push for lower rates against pressure to raise them. Investors Business Daily presented them as an urge to cut while markets priced in a possible hike under Warsh. Reuters/Ipsos polling has linked affordability worries to a possible rate increase. The Fed governors' decision remains ahead.