BlockBeats reported on Aug. 20 that U.S. President Donald Trump again criticized Federal Reserve interest-rate policy on Wednesday, saying the central bank should not stand in the way of rate cuts when economic data is improving and that the United States should be paying “much lower” rates.
Trump said Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh was “doing a good job,” but he also accused the Fed’s board of having “political factors” at play. He said some members were appointed by Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Trump himself, and could be supporting higher rates for political reasons.
Trump also said that in the past, improving economic data would usually push interest rates lower, but now “the better the data, the higher the rates.” He argued that lower rates would not only help economic growth, but also reduce financing pressure tied to nearly $40 trillion in U.S. debt.
Even so, the Federal Reserve has not raised rates since 2023, and it began a rate-cut cycle in the second half of 2025, delivering six cuts in total. Minutes from the Fed’s July meeting showed that most officials believe rates may still need to stay higher if inflation does not cool further.
Trump also complained that U.S. rates are higher than those in some overseas economies. He cited Switzerland’s policy rate of about 0.5% and said the current U.S. rate level of about 3.5% was “unreasonable.”
On the same day, the U.S. Treasury announced a larger long-term Treasury buyback program. The size of buyback operations for 10-year to 30-year Treasuries will at least double, rising from $2 billion to $4 billion per operation, with the stated goal of improving liquidity in the long-end bond market. The market believes the move could help ease recent upward pressure on U.S. Treasury yields.