Karl W. Smith, Columnist

The Fed Can Pause and Still Resist Trump

By delaying this week’s interest rate increase, the Fed can both reassure the public and stand up to the president.

December 17, 2018 at 4:30 PM UTC

Karl W. Smith is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. Previously, he was vice president for federal policy at the Tax Foundation and assistant professor of economics at the University of North Carolina.

Trying to look beyond Trump’s tweets.
Photographer: Mark Wilson/Getty Images North America

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When the Fed meets this week it is widely expected to raise its target for the federal funds rate by a quarter of a percentage point. President Donald Trump is not the least bit happy about this. This morning he offered what might be his sharpest rebuke yet of the Fed, and that’s saying quite a bit. His tweet had the flavor of a direct order:

Trump’s tweet brought immediate condemnation from economists and financial journalists concerned about Fed independence.