U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said interest rates are too restrictive and signaled the Trump administration supports an aggressive monetary easing cycle beginning as soon as September.
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“We should be 150-175 basis points lower on the fed funds now,” Bessent said during a Bloomberg interview on Wednesday, calling current rates overly tight.
He added that if recent labor data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics had been more accurate in earlier months, the Federal Reserve would have already cut rates in June or July.
He expressed hope that a 50 basis point rate cut will arrive in September and highlighted that Fed Chair Jerome Powell risks repeating outdated monetary strategies.
“They tried to be more data-driven, but it’s just very old-fashioned thinking,” Bessent said.
“We could go into a series of rate cuts here, starting, I’m hopeful about the September meeting,” he added.
Bessent indicated the administration has begun a formal process to pick Powell’s successor, though he emphasized that President Donald Trump …