DOONBEG, Ireland — President Donald Trump said Sunday, Sept. 13, 2026, that no country should have lower interest rates than the United States, speaking to reporters at the Irish Open golf tournament days before the Federal Reserve’s next policy meeting, Reuters reported. Trump said he did not know whether Fed policymakers would raise rates this week, but argued the U.S. “should be paying the lowest interest rate in the world” no matter what the Fed’s data shows about inflation and the economy.

The timing is tight. The Fed meets less than a week after Friday’s Consumer Price Index posted its largest increase in four months, reinforcing market expectations of a hike. Governors are also meeting weeks before midterm elections that will decide whether Republicans keep slim majorities in both chambers of Congress; Reuters noted that a rate hike could add to voter affordability concerns in recent Reuters/Ipsos polling. Trump’s approval ratings have fallen as inflation has persisted, and he has argued Fed rate levels have helped other countries at U.S. expense.

“I know more about formulas than anybody, and with the best credit in the world, we make other countries rich,” Trump said Sunday, per Reuters. A frequent critic of former Fed chair Jay Powell, he has been more supportive since his own pick, Kevin Warsh, took the chair earlier this year — but he has also sharpened the demand. Two weeks ago he posted on social media: “LOWER THE RATE OR I’LL STOP TRADING WITH COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE HAVE A DEFICIT.”

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, appearing on Fox News Sunday, said Trump “will defend the independence of Kevin Warsh above all” no matter what the Fed does with rates — while underscoring the White House preference: if it’s a rate hike, “I’m sure he’s not going to be super happy about it.” That is the independence tension in one sound bite: a president pressing for the world’s cheapest money regardless of the data, and an aide promising to defend the chair even as the same White House signals unhappiness with a hike. Rate policy is supposed to be insulated from election calendars; presidential trade threats aimed at forcing easier money are the opposite of that insulation.

Sources