Facing Trump's pressure, the Fed is likely to cut rates for the first time this year

"President Trump wants much lower interest rates, and he has been waging a high-pressure campaign to exert more control over the central bank bypassing safeguards designed to insulate the Fed from political pressure. Trump tries to put his own stamp on the central bank Trump installed a White House economist, Stephen Miran, as a new member of the Fed's governing board. The Senate voted mostly along party lines to confirm Miran's appointment on Monday, less than 24 hours before this week's Fed meeting began."

"The president tried to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook in a social media post last month. Cook's dismissal has been temporarily blocked by federal courts. The White House says it will ask the Supreme Court to allow the firing to go forward. If Trump succeeds in replacing Cook, his appointees would hold a majority on the Fed's seven-member governing board."

The Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point, lowering the benchmark to about 4%–4.25% to prop up a sagging U.S. job market amid slower hiring. That would be the first cut in nine months, with policymakers having signaled further easing totaling about half a percentage point by year-end. President Trump has applied intense political pressure, installing an ally on the Fed board and attempting to remove a governor, which could give his appointees a board majority. Tariffs have raised import prices, complicating inflation risks and the Fed's decision-making.

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