Trump Blasts Fed in Speech on Economy

President Trump was in Michigan Tuesday to promote his efforts to boost US manufacturing, as he tries to counter fears about a weakening job market and worries that still-rising prices are hurting Americans' pocketbooks. The day trip included a tour of a Ford factory in Dearborn that makes the best-selling F-150 pickups.

• Speaking to the Detroit Economic Club, Trump opened with introductions and a few jokes, then immediately shifted to talking about his elections and voter ID laws, instead of the economy. He told former US Rep. Mike Rogers that he lost his 2024 Senate race to Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin because the election was "rigged," though Trump won in Michigan the same year, the Detroit News reports.

• Later in the speech, the president essentially accused the Fed of stealing his joy by not being bullish about lowering interest rates. "If you announce great numbers, they raise interest rates," Trump said. "When the market goes up, they should lower rates." He called Fed chair Jerome Powell a "jerk" and said he "will be gone soon."
• Trump said any economic woes voters are feeling are Joe Biden's fault, the Hill reports. Biden "gave us a colossal stagflation catastrophe but my administration rapidly and very decisively ended that," Trump said. He claimed his administration has "achieved the exact opposite of stagflation," though inflation remains above the Fed's 2% target. Trump, who claimed inflation had "stopped" and "grocery prices are starting to go rapidly down," said affordability was a "fake word" used by Democrats, reports the Detroit News.
• Trump claimed "the evidence shows overwhelmingly that the tariffs are not paid by American consumers," though studies have shown the opposite, the New York Times reports.
• Trump stopped to speak to reporters while touring the Ford factory and was indifferent to the idea of renegotiating the United States-Mexico-Canada trade pact, or USMCA, which is up for review this year. "I think they want it," he said of the other nations. "I don't really care." Trump said the US doesn't need cars made in Canada or Mexico, but he wants to see them made in the US. During his speech, he said he would be open to allowing Chinese automakers to build factories in the US, the Times reports.