CHINA/ECONOMY/EU/FEDERAL RESERVE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump escalated his criticism of the Federal Reserve Friday [7-20-18], saying in a tweet that its efforts to raise short-term interest rates hurt the U.S. economic expansion, and he accused China and the European Union of manipulating their currencies to hurt the U.S. on trade. The tweets came shortly after CNBC broadcast an interview with Mr. Trump in which the president said he was prepared to raise U.S. tariffs on $500 billion worth of imports from China as part of his push to narrow U.S. trade deficits with China. In the same interview he said he wasn’t happy about Fed rate increases. The president had previously been silent about Fed policy, in keeping with a long tradition in the White House of refraining from commenting on central bank decisions in respect for its independence. His tweets about the Fed on Friday, a day after the comments to CNBC were made public, suggest criticism of the Fed could become a new routine in Mr. Trump’s commentary on the U.S. economy. This would put the central bank in a potentially awkward position as it considers whether to raise rates again.”
–Nick Timiraos and Harriet Torry, “Trump Escalates Criticism of Fed, Renews Threat on China Imports,” The Wall Street Journal, July 20, 2018 11:32 am