Trump blames Fed board for rates hike

NEW YORK, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday accused what he called a "hostile" and "political" Federal Reserve board of raising interest rates.

Sparing Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh from criticism Wednesday evening, Trump told reporters, "I'm relying on Kevin, but he has got a very tough board." All 12 voting members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), including Warsh, voted in favor of the rate hike.

"The plain fact is that inflation is too high and has been for too long," Warsh said at a press conference after the FOMC meeting. "The Committee's unanimous vote shows our resolve to achieve price stability on a timelier basis."

He added that achieving stable prices has been a challenge for more than five and a half years.

Trump claimed that the FOMC raised interest rates to hurt him politically. "They're raising that only for political reasons, and that's a raise against Trump. They are raising the rates to make Trump do as bad as he can possibly do."

Inflation has been a major concern for consumers ahead of the November midterm election.

The Fed on Wednesday raised its target federal funds rate by 25 basis points to a range of 3.75 percent to 4 percent to address persistent inflation, marking its first interest rate hike since July 2023.

Following the rate hike announcement, Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social that interest rates should be 1 percent or less because the United States is the "best credit in the world -- BY FAR."