Trump’s tariffs put pressure on the US Federal Reserve

Donald Trump's bullying campaign against Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell yielded the first interest-rate cut in a decade.

Donald Trump © SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

Donald Trump: crazy like a fox?
(Image credit: Donald Trump © SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

Donald Trump is "crazy like a fox", says Niall Ferguson in The Sunday Times. The old American phrase well describes the president's ingenious knack for getting what he wants. Last week his bullying campaign against Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell yielded the first interest-rate cut in a decade. Yet Trump wants more than the quarter-point reduction that Powell offered up. The solution? The president tweeted that he intends to impose fresh tariffs of 10% on $300bn of Chinese goods from the start of September. The resulting trade chaos only increases the pressure on the Fed for further easing to clear up the mess.

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Markets editor

Alex is an investment writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2015. He has been the magazine’s markets editor since 2019. 

Alex has a passion for demystifying the often arcane world of finance for a general readership. While financial media tends to focus compulsively on the latest trend, the best opportunities can lie forgotten elsewhere. 

He is especially interested in European equities – where his fluent French helps him to cover the continent’s largest bourse – and emerging markets, where his experience living in Beijing, and conversational Chinese, prove useful. 

Hailing from Leeds, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.