Karl W. Smith, Columnist

How Trump’s Attacks on Powell Are Helping the Fed

The president’s criticisms are so explicit that it should be easy for the central bank to prove its independence.

October 24, 2018 at 11:00 AM 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.

Friendly but still independent.
Photographer: Bloomberg/Bloomberg

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President Donald Trump’s criticisms of the U.S. Federal Reserve and its chairman are becoming ever more bold and strident. After calling the Fed’s monetary policy “crazy” a few weeks ago, this week he told the Wall Street Journal that Jerome Powell “almost looks like he’s happy raising interest rates” and said that “maybe” he regrets choosing him as Fed chairman.

There’s no getting around the recklessness of Trump’s comments. But so far, he has not acted on them. This combination — unconventional rhetoric plus conventional actions — actually strengthens the Fed’s independence.