Jerome Powell is holding firm as Donald Trump escalates his aggressive attacks on the Federal Reserve Board chairman and threatens to replace him with someone who will do what they’re told.

Speaking at a central banking forum in Portugal on Tuesday, Powell indicated that while an interest rate cut at the Fed’s July meeting wasn’t “off the table,” the US central bank would rely on the economic data to make its decision.

“I wouldn’t take any meeting off the table, or put it directly on the table. It’s going to depend on how the data falls,” he said.

No love lost: US President Donald Trump (left) and US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell.Credit: AP, Bloomberg

He also said that the US central bank would have lowered rates more quickly if it wasn’t for Trump’s tariffs.

“We went on hold when we saw the size of the tariffs and where essentially all inflation forecasts for the United States went up materially as a consequence,” he said.

On Monday, the White House shared a handwritten note Trump sent to Powell that compared the US federal funds rate (the US equivalent of the Reserve Bank’s cash rate) to those of other central banks.

‘We went on hold when we saw the size of the tariffs and where essentially all inflation forecasts for the United States went up materially as a consequence.’

“Jerome – you are, as usual, ‘too late.’ You have cost the USA a fortune – and continue to do so. You should lower the Rate – by a lot! Hundreds of billions of dollars being lost! No inflation,” it read.

Also on Monday, Trump, in a social media post, said Powell and his colleagues “should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen to the United States.

“If they were doing their job properly our Country would be saving Trillions of Dollars in Interest Cost.

“The board just sits there and watches, so they are equally to blame,” he wrote.

On Friday, Trump urged Powell - whose term as chair expires next May - to........

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