Powell Plays Poker Face with Trump—No Rate Hike Teasers at White House Sit-Down

Fed Chair Jerome Powell met with former President Donald Trump at the White House—but left markets guessing on future rate moves. No spoilers, just central banking mystique.

Wall Street’s favorite guessing game—’When will the Fed cut?’—got zero new clues. Powell’s lips tighter than a Bitcoin maximalist’s grip on their cold wallet.

Another day, another political powwow where monetary policy becomes performance art. At least Powell didn’t promise ’beautiful low rates’ like some 2017 rerun.

Trump pushes, Powell resists

The timing of this meeting matters. Trump’s been shouting from his soapbox on Truth Social, demanding rate cuts. The economy is in a weird place — inflation is still breathing down everyone’s neck while Trump is out here throwing around more tariffs, which could push prices up again. Powell’s job? Keep prices stable. But Trump? He wants lower rates now.

On May 17, Trump posted in all caps, “THE CONSENSUS OF ALMOST EVERYBODY IS THAT ‘THE FED SHOULD CUT RATES SOONER, RATHER THAN LATER.’ Too Late Powell, a man legendary for being Too Late, will probably blow it again – But who knows???”

Earlier this month, Powell told reporters that they hadn’t met yet, and he wasn’t planning on starting that conversation. “I’ve never asked for a meeting with any president, and I never will,” Powell said. “I wouldn’t do that. There’s never a reason for me to ask for a meeting. It’s always been the other way.”

That’s his style — stay quiet, stay legal, and act like the numbers are in charge, not the politicians. So here we are now: they’ve finally met. Trump probably tried to get him to say something — we don’t know. But Powell, by all accounts, didn’t bite.

With new tariffs in play and price pressures building again, the Fed is walking a tightrope. Rate cuts now could give Trump the economic boost he wants heading into a possible re-election fight, but it could also be reckless.

According to futures market pricing, traders don’t expect the Fed to touch rates until at least September, skipping meetings in June and July. There’s still a chance they cut one more time before the end of the year. But that depends on the data.

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