Trump Today: President keeps up criticism of Fed, China and EU trade

A day after Donald Trump criticized in a CNBC interview the Federal Reserve’s recent interest-rate hikes and said the European Union and China were deliberately weakening their currencies, the president on Friday amplified this criticism in a series of tweets. Trump also said he was ready to place tariffs on $500 billion in Chinese products.

FED TIGHTENING ‘HURTS ALL THAT WE HAVE DONE’

On Twitter, Trump complained again about the Fed’s rate hikes, saying they were working at cross purposes with the administration’s economic program. The Fed has hiked rates five times since Trump took office and has penciled in two more quarter-point increases this year. The president seemed particularly upset that the rate hikes have pushed up the dollar’s market value.

Asked for his response, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard seemed unperturbed by Trump’s criticism.

EU, CHINA ARE GUILTY OF ‘ILLEGAL CURRENCY MANIPULATION’

According to Trump, the EU and China are deliberately pushing down the value of their currencies to give their goods a competitive advantage over U.S. goods on international markets.

The charges come despite the fact that the Treasury Department declined to label either China or the EU a currency manipulator earlier this year.

‘READY TO GO TO 500’

In the full CNBC interview, which ran Friday morning although was excerpted Thursday, the president said he was prepared to escalate his trade clash with China by placing tariffs on some $505 billion of Chinese products, representing the entire import balance with the U.S. last year. So far, the U.S. has imposed tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese exports and identified more Chinese goods worth $200 billion as possible targets for more tariffs.

‘FARMERS WILL WIN’

On Twitter, Trump defended his trade strategy and its impact on the agricultural sector. He argued that prior trade deals had hurt the sector’s growth.