Trump presses Powell for a full-point interest rate cut despite strong jobs report

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 lower rates in order to boost the economy, argued for that steep cut even as he maintained that the country is "doing great."

"Go for a full point, Rocket Fuel!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Markets predict there is virtually zero chance of any rate decrease, let alone a full-percentage-point cut, following the Federal Open Market Committee's next meeting later this month.

The president's latest public 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.

The Fed cut rates by one full point in total over the course of President Joe Biden's final year in office. Those cuts came after a series of rate hikes in 2022 and 2023 in response to inflation spurred by the Covid-19 pandemic and other factors.

Trump in Friday's post also once again complained that other global central banks have been lowering their rates while the Fed has not followed suit.

Earlier this week, the European Central Bank lowered its benchmark rate another quarter point — its eighth cut since last June — though it indicated that it would not do so again this year.

The ECB eased on the notion that both inflation and economic growth were weakening. However, Fed policymakers worry that Trump's tariffs could cause a spike in inflation.

In a follow-up message, 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."

Prior the jobs report, traders had been looking for the next reduction to come in September — but even those odds decreased following Friday's release, which also included an upside surprise on average hourly earnings. Wages grew at a 3.9% annual pace, 0.2 percentage points more than expected.

Traders had lowered the chance of a September cut to about 62%, and now see a 22% probability that the Fed will cut more than twice by the end of 2025, according to CME Group data.