Federal Reserve Chief Corrects Trump During Uncomfortable Moment on Renovation Tour

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Donald Trump was fact-checked by the man he has suggested firing during a tense meeting as the United States president toured the Federal Reserve’s headquarters in Washington, DC.

Trump visited the site of a US$2.5 billion ($3.79 billion) renovation with Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell on Thursday — a project that has drawn repeated criticism from the US president in recent months because he believes it is overpriced.

He has also taken aim at Powell for not lowering interest rates and earlier this week referred to him as a “numbskull”. Trump has said he wants to remove Powell but likely lacks the legal authority to do so.

An awkward exchange played out in front of reporters when Trump claimed the price tag for the renovation at the US’ central bank was US$3.1 billion ($4.7 billion). Powell closed his eyes and shook his head before responding: “I haven’t heard that from anybody.”

Trump produced a sheet of paper apparently listing construction costs and was told curtly he was including work on the William McChesney Martin Jr Building which was not part of the project.

“You just added in a third building,” Powell said, adding it was a renovation completed five years ago.

Trump went on to ask Powell if he expected additional cost overruns, to which he replied: “Don’t expect them.”

Asked by a reporter what, in his career as a real estate developer, he would do if a project manager went over budget, Trump said: “Generally speaking … I would fire them.”

But this week, Trump has toned down his threats to fire Powell. When calling him a “numbskull” who had “done a bad job” earlier this week, Trump said he would be out in eight months. That, however, would still be a couple of months out from the end of his term in May 2026. It was unclear why Trump picked that time frame.

A man handing a piece of paper to another man.

Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said Donald Trump had factored in the cost of a previously completed project after the US president claimed there had been a cost blowout in the renovation of the central bank’s headquarters. Source: AAP, AP / Julia Demaree Nikhinson

And after the visit, Trump said he did not intend to fire Powell.

“To do so is a big move and I just don’t think it’s necessary,” he told reporters.

Elevated by Trump to the top Fed job in 2018 and then reappointed by former president Joe Biden four years later, Powell last met with the president in March when Trump summoned him to the White House to press him to lower rates.

Trump has criticised Powell for months over his insistence on keeping the short-term interest rate at 4.3 per cent this year, after cutting it three times last year, when Biden was in office.

The visibly tense interaction between the pair comes less than a week before the central bank’s 19 policymakers are due to gather for a two-day rate-setting meeting, where they are widely expected to leave their benchmark interest rate in the 4.25 to 4.50 per cent range.

Trump has repeatedly demanded Powell slash rates by 3 percentage points or more.

“I’d love him to lower interest rates,” Trump said as he wrapped up the tour, as Powell stood by, his face expressionless.

— With reporting by the Agence France-Presse and Reuters news agencies