Trump Sends Powell a Handwritten Note Demanding a 1% Interest Rate: 'You Have Cost the USA A Fortune'

On June 30, 2025, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt displayed a handwritten note Trump had sent to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Written across a printed list of central bank policy rates from other countries, it told Powell 'you should lower the rate by a lot,' said 'hundreds of billions' were being lost, and called him, 'as usual, too late.' Trump argued the U.S. rate belonged between Japan's 0.5% and Denmark's 1.75%, and separately said the Fed should move to '1% interest, or better.' The Fed had held rates steady at its June meeting, citing tariff-related uncertainty about inflation.

Publicly delivering a personal demand to the Fed chair through the White House briefing room is a direct test of the central bank's operational independence, which rests on the expectation that policy rates are set without instruction from the executive. Trump cannot direct the Federal Open Market Committee, and reporting noted he cannot remove Powell over a policy disagreement.

The Fed did not change rates in response. Powell's term as chair ran to May 2026, and Trump continued to press publicly for cuts and to discuss potential successors.