Trump’s Latest Criticism of Powell as “Mr. Tardy” Causes US Stocks to Plunge, Bitcoin Breaks Through $88,000

US President Trump’s Criticism of Federal Reserve Chairman Powell Continues to Escalate

After the U.S. stock market opened on Monday, major indices fell across the board, as Trump’s recent post on social media seemed to further exacerbate market uncertainty regarding the outlook for monetary policy.

In his post, Trump emphasized that the costs of energy, food prices, and other living expenses in the United States have “significantly decreased,” yet Powell has been reluctant to lower interest rates, which may hinder economic growth.

He wrote:

“These costs are sliding beautifully as I predicted, with almost no inflation risk. But unless ‘Mr. Slowpoke’ (a big loser) lowers rates immediately, the economy could slow down. Europe has already cut rates seven times.”

Trump not only criticized Powell for the slow pace of interest rate adjustments but also further politicized the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy. He accused Powell of “only lowering rates during Biden’s election period,” implying that the subsequent rate cuts led to severe inflation and suggesting a political bias within the Federal Reserve.

This statement has been interpreted as Trump attempting to blame the economic slowdown and inflation on the previous administration and the Federal Reserve, while simultaneously pressuring Powell to cut rates quickly.

Trump’s series of public criticisms of Powell has intensified scrutiny over the Federal Reserve’s “independence” and further impacted market confidence, which was already highly volatile due to trade and inflation issues. As of the time of writing, major U.S. stock indices had fallen over 2%.

It is noteworthy that while U.S. stocks were declining, Bitcoin exhibited a contrary trend, rapidly surging past $88,000.