Trump turns up the heat on Warsh as Fed rate hike looms

President Donald Trump speaks with the new chairman of the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh, after a swearing-in ceremony in the East Room of the White House, in Washington, May 22, 2026.Anna Moneymaker | Getty ImagesTen days ahead of a meeting in which the Federal Reserve will likely consider raising interest rates, the Trump administration looks to be in a full-court press to halt the hike in its tracks.In the past week, the president, vice president, Treasury secretary and one of the president's senior economic counselors have all urged the Fed not to raise rates and, in some cases, to cut them — an unusually broad public pressure campaign even by the standards of Trump's long-running criticism of the central bank.While President Donald Trump has avoided directly criticizing his new Fed chairman Kevin Warsh, as he did former chair Jay Powell, he escalated the pressure Friday by threatening to halt trade with countries that run trade surpluses with the U.S. unless the Fed cuts interest rates. Trump had never before directly threatened tariffs if the Fed didn't lower rates. The president's post was followed by an interview that senior economic counselor Peter Navarro gave to former Tr...