Trump lashes out at US Fed after latest rate hike

US President Donald Trump has levelled his most pointed — though still indirect — criticism yet at his hand-picked Federal Reserve chief, fuming on social media over the central bank's move to raise interest rates in a bid to calm persistent inflation.

"Interest Rates in the United States should be 1 per cent, or less, because we are the Best Credit in the World — BY FAR," he wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday.

"LOWER THE INTEREST RATES FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND FAST!" he concluded.

It was the closest Trump has come yet to levelling one of his broadsides directly at Kevin Warsh, picked by Trump earlier in 2026 to take over the Fed from Jerome Powell, a figure the president frequently derided for not delivering the dramatic rate cuts Trump has routinely demanded.

Trump's screed came shortly after Fed policymakers unanimously agreed on Wednesday to raise rates by 25 basis points to 3.75 per cent-4.00 per cent, an action Warsh described at a subsequent press conference as"a sober decision, serious decision, responsible decision".

"The plain fact is that inflation is too high and has been for too long," Warsh said.

And rates are likely going still higher. New policy projections showed 16 of 18 policymakers anticipate at least one more quarter-percentage-point hike by the end of 2026, with only two of them seeing rates remaining stable from here.

Warsh said again on Wednesday that he is opposed to sharing forward guidance and did not submit a projection.

Trump's post was the second time this week he'd taken aim at his own appointees. After the Supreme Court struck down his attempt to regulate how states issue mail ballots, Trump wrote of the three justices he appointed: "These are not the people I interviewed to serve on the United States Supreme Court, they are merely a shell of their original selves."

White House officials spent much of the week publicly pressuring the Fed to hold rates steady. One former White House official told Reuters the president's social media post about the Fed was a tame response in the context of that campaign.