Trump makes a surprise statement: “I will not dismiss Powell, but…”

US President Donald Trump added another one to his string of harsh statements against US Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell, whom he has repeatedly criticized in recent months.

Trump told reporters that he would not fire Powell. However, he criticized Powell again for his interest rate policies:

"It's costing our country a lot of money. We should be number one. But we're not. And that's because of Jerome Powell's interest rate policy."

Arguing that interest rates are kept higher than they should be, Trump said, “I think we should lower the interest rate by three percentage points.”