President Trump posted a meme on Saturday of him telling Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell “You’re Fired!,” a move that he’s been hinting at for months due to the central bank’s refusal to significantly lower interest rates.
Earlier this month, the Fed cut rates for the first time this year and signaled that future cuts could be made in October and December, respectively. 

“Near-term risks to inflation are tilted to the upside and risks to employment to the downside – a challenging situation,” Powell said in August.

The Fed chief has been weary to drive down interest rates due to tariff uncertainty as trade agreements are still being negotiated by the White House. Several countries have agreed to stable rates and Trump administration officials have said additional deals are forthcoming. 

Powell has been labeled “incompetent” and “too slow” by the president, who has hammered the Fed chair’s hesitancy to decrease interest rates. 

Trump recently attempted to remove Fed governor Lisa Cook from the central bank’s board over mortgage fraud allegations. He also used a vacancy to temporarily appoint White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Stephen Miran to the board — possibly in an effort to have some influence over future Fed decisions.

However, Powell reiterated the Fed’s independence on Tuesday during an event at the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce in Rhode Island.

“I just have to say this, whenever we make decisions, we’re never ever thinking about political things. And so we, you know, we’re based in Washington, D.C. and many, many of people, you know, in Congress and, you know, they’re, often things are seen through a lens of, is it good for this party or bad for this party or this politician,” Powell told the audience. 

“We’re just not looking at things that way. We’re looking at what’s the best thing for the people that we serve in the medium term, what’s the best policy,” he added. “We don’t get into back and forth with, with external people. We just do our jobs, we keep our head down and do our jobs. That’s what we do.”