Donald Trump will heap further pressure on the chief of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, on Thursday when the US president makes a visit to the central bank’s Washington offices.
In an unusual move, the White House announced on Wednesday that Trump would visit the Fed at 4pm on the following day, without saying whether Powell would meet him.
Since the US president’s inauguration in January he has repeatedly attacked Powell for refusing to cut interest rates.
Powell chairs a committee that has voted to maintain the cost of borrowing while many other central banks, including the European Central Bank and the Bank of England, have made cuts.
Trump recently accused Powell of making it difficult for young people to buy a house while interest rates remained high, referring to him as a “numbskull” in social media posts and suggesting his tenure, due to run until next spring, should be curtailed.
Trump’s public criticism of Powell and suggestions that he could be fired have rattled markets amid concerns about the central bank’s independence and freedom from political interference.
A refurbishment of the Federal Reserve’s headquarters has also become a subject of dispute after a $1.9bn (£1.4bn) project reportedly overran by about $600m.
White House officials have claimed that Powell’s oversight of the project shows the Fed boss lacks the ability to run the organisation.
The Fed has hit back, explaining in a video tour of the construction that the project is a “complete overhaul and modernisation” of two buildings that have not had major renovations since the 1930s.
Trump’s visit – part of an investigation of the project – represents an acceleration of the pressure that he and his advisers have put on Powell and the bank.
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The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has played down the likelihood of ousting Powell, but this week questioned whether the Federal Reserve had fulfilled its mandate.
He told an interview with CBNC: “Has the organisation succeeded in its mission? If this were the [Federal Aviation Administration] and we were having this many mistakes, we would go back and look at why has this happened.”
James Blair, the White House’s deputy chief of staff, said earlier this week that administration officials would be visiting the Fed on Thursday but did not say whether or not the president would join.
A Federal Reserve official did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to Reuters.
