….The United States should not be penalized because we are doing so well. Tightening now hurts all that we have done. The U.S. should be allowed to recapture what was lost due to illegal currency manipulation and BAD Trade Deals. Debt coming due & we are raising rates – Really?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 20, 2018
The WSJ reports Trump Escalates Criticism of Fed, Renews Threat on China Imports
President Donald Trump escalated his criticism of the Federal Reserve Friday, saying in a tweet that its efforts to raise short-term interest rates hurt the U.S. economic expansion, and he accused China and the European Union of manipulating their currencies to hurt the U.S. on trade.
The tweets came shortly after CNBC broadcast an interview with Mr. Trump in which the president said he was prepared to raise U.S. tariffs on $500 billion worth of imports from China as part of his push to narrow U.S. trade deficits with China. In the same interview he said he wasn’t happy about Fed rate increases.
The central bank’s campaign to slowly raise interest rates “hurts all that we have done,” he wrote Friday. “The U.S. should be allowed to recapture what was lost due to illegal currency manipulation and BAD Trade Deals. Debt coming due & we are raising rates – Really?”
The president has threatened tariffs on $500 billion in Chinese imports before. On July 6 on Air Force One, the president told reporters that tariffs could eventually hit all U.S. imports from China, affecting nearly $505 billion in imports.
When asked during Friday’s CNBC interview, “Will you ever get to 500, though?” Mr. Trump responded that he is “ready to go to 500,” referring to the approximate dollar value of Chinese goods exported to the U.S. last year.
“I’m doing this to do the right thing for our country. We have been ripped off by China for a long time,” he said.
Manipulating Currencies
China is guilty as charged. So is the EU. So is Japan. So is the US.
What else do you call it when trillions of dollars of QE are sloshing around in an attempt to keep interest rates artificially low?
Interest rates and interest rate differentials affect currencies. The only thing different about China and Japan is both do direct Forex intervention. You can add the Swiss National Bank to that list as well.
So yes, they whole damn pack of them, including the US are manipulators.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
My take is that Trump wants his statements out there that interest rate increases will cause problems in the economy because he knows we will likely be heading into a recession before his term is up. Then he can deflect from the tariff impact (at least somewhat).
Would be nice if the article is true, but there’s plenty of suspect stuff in there. First of all, the US is involved in the ME for much more than energy concerns. It may have started that way, but morphed into something far more complicated since the ’40s.
It is also blissfully naïve about our intentions, as evidenced by this whopper of a quote: “So why should the US continue to spend blood and treasure keeping peace in the Middle East”? Not sure we’ve kept any peace there for a long time, unless it’s “peace” as defined by the House of Saud.
If I’m Assad, I would drag my feet hard about banishing Hezbollah, the people primarily responsible for thwarting the West-backed extremists. The US/Israel/Saudis have amply demonstrated they cannot be trusted, so allies should be kept close. Maybe allow a token faction to leave while the cameras are rolling, but nothing more. Playing nice with the West could mean getting Gaddafi’d.
As others have stated, the Fed may feel more compelled to keep the quarter point raises coming just to make a point about independence from the US gov. Trump needs to be careful here, no leader has challenged the central bankers in the modern era and won. The Fed can say they’re simply trying to normalize rates, something Trump would have endorsed back when he was a candidate.
As an aside, I actually think Trump has so far done quite well in terms of foreign policy. Sure, he’s ruffling a few feathers here and there, and I don’t know why he’s so fixated on Iran, but overall my feeling is he has not abandoned the pro-peace leanings he first revealed during his campaign.
No, I actually did take the time to read the article and found myself in full agreement with the author.
Good – since the alternative would evidently have been rule by a bunch of very uncouth retro-medieval head-chopping fanatics.
What solution do you propose for Syria? Be specific.
Latkes, Assad Snr was in power for years. Do you blame Putin and Trump for Assad Snr and his years of tenure?
Why was there a rush to replace his son? Every intervention recently has delivered more misery than would probably have been the case by leaving the status quo as is. Look at the Iraqi civilian death toll, Libyan misery, now Syria. Price worth paying? Probably, if you are not one of the victims or have family members who are. Millions have suffered at the hands of Bush, Blair, Obama. More so than probably suffered under the dictators they ousted. Oustings that were clumsy, Ill thought through and possibly illegal under international law.
“What else do you call it when trillions of dollars of QE are sloshing around in an attempt to keep interest rates artificially low?”
A 247 trillion $ global debt bubble, at last count.
Story that Junker is heading across with some “offer” or other but disagreement between France and Germany about what the offer should be. One that suits Germany may not suit France etc.
Hiding in all that is Germany. So far no downside to calling the shots in the EU but having a massive fx benefit it wouldn’t otherwise have. So, if Germany ever complains about being on the hook for the cost of EU deficits let’s not forget the benefit they have had and the captive market that went with it.