Trump to Fed boss: "Idiot!"

US President Donald Trump on Thursday called Jerome Powell, the head of the US Federal Reserve (Fed), a "fool" after the Fed unanimously decided to leave interest rates unchanged. Jerome Powell is "a fool, who doesn't have a clue," the US president wrote on his Truth Social network.

The US Federal Reserve (Fed) has decided to extend the status quo on its rates, saying it is unable to predict where the American economy is heading in the face of the customs duties imposed by Donald Trump.

There is "so much uncertainty" surrounding the impact of these new import taxes that the Fed is choosing not to move its rates for now, its chairman, Jerome Powell, said at a press conference on Wednesday.

The White House tenant triggered an economic earthquake by announcing massive tariffs on goods imported into the United States, before largely backtracking in the face of the upheaval in the international economic order.

"There is virtually no inflation, the tariff money is coming into the United States," the US president added Thursday on Truth Social.

The Fed, and especially its chairman, are facing repeated criticism from Donald Trump, who wants to see rates lower, which would have the merit of cushioning the impact of customs duties, at the risk of fueling inflation.

The presidential statements "do not affect our work at all," Jerome Powell assured on Wednesday.

"We always consider," he added, "only economic data, the outlook, the balance of risks, and that's it. So it really doesn't affect our work or the way we do it."