U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated that the benchmark interest rate should be lowered.
In an interview with NBC News on the 4th local time, President Trump repeatedly said about the possibility of a rate cut, "I think rates will go down. Rates should go down."
He added, "Our rates are too high," and said, "I have always been good at handling money, and as money came into Korea, we became a rich country again. There is liability, but there is also growth, and that growth will soon make the liability look very small."
As the term of Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve (Fed) chair who withstood Trump's pressure for rate cuts, approaches its expiration in May, he named former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh as the next chair.
Regarding nominee Warsh, President Trump said, "He, in any case, would want to lower rates," adding, "If he had come in and said, 'I want to raise rates,' he wouldn't have gotten the job." This is seen as also pressing the nominee for a rate cut.
Meanwhile, in the interview that day, he warned Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, that he "should be very worried."
With the high-level talks between the two countries, scheduled for the 6th, in doubt, it is interpreted as reaffirming that U.S. military strike options against Iran remain on the table.