Will Trump force the Fed to lower interest rates?

Markets are ignoring the risk that Donald Trump compels the central bank into reckless interest rate cuts

President Donald Trump looks at chairman of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell
The Fed is nominally independent but not immune to political pressure, Cris Sholto Heaton writes.
(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Markets are getting increasingly rattled by the difficulty of understanding what Donald Trump is likely to do next, but this should not have come as a surprise.

Trump’s great skill as a politician is his ability to convince so many people that he will be good for them, even though his policies are clearly contradictory, and there’s no sound reason for thinking that he’ll stick with the ones they particularly like. You struggle to pick out any consistent ideology other than a belief that the president’s power should be unchecked.

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Cris Sholto Heaton

Cris Sholto Heaton is an investment analyst and writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2006 and was managing editor of the magazine between 2016 and 2018. He is especially interested in international investing, believing many investors still focus too much on their home markets and that it pays to take advantage of all the opportunities the world offers. He often writes about Asian equities, international income and global asset allocation.

Cris began his career in financial services consultancy at PwC and Lane Clark & Peacock, before an abrupt change of direction into oil, gas and energy at Petroleum Economist and Platts and subsequently into investment research and writing. In addition to his articles for MoneyWeek, he also works with a number of asset managers, consultancies and financial information providers.

He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and the Investment Management Certificate, as well as degrees in finance and mathematics. He has also studied acting, film-making and photography, and strongly suspects that an awareness of what makes a compelling story is just as important for understanding markets as any amount of qualifications.