Trump Goads China and Plays Down Chances of a Trade Deal Before 2020 – The New York Times

In the United States, gross domestic product, a broad measure of the strength of the American economy, came in at an annualized 2.1 percent in the second quarter, a decent pace but slower than the 3.1 percent rate posted in the first three months of the year.

On Tuesday, Mr. Trump again blamed the Federal Reserve for taking some steam out of the economy, saying that both the stock market and economic growth would have been stronger if the Fed had not raised interest rates last year. Mr. Trump called on the Fed to enact a large rate cut, just a day before the central bank is widely expected to lower rates, albeit slightly, for the first time since 2008.

Stocks “would have been 10,000 points higher, and I think we would have been in the 4’s for GDP” if the Fed hadn’t raised rates, Mr. Trump said, noting that former President Barack Obama had a near-zero interest rate while the Fed has since normalized interest rates.

“I’m very disappointed in the Fed. I think they acted too quickly, by far, and I think I’ve been proven right,” Mr. Trump said.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed about 27,000 on Monday, and has risen nearly 4,000 points since the start of the year.

The central bank lifted interest rates nine times between late 2015 and the end of 2018, though it has paused such increases this year as risks from Mr. Trump’s ongoing trade wars and slowing global growth loom. It has also been shrinking its balance sheet, swollen by bond purchases meant to reignite growth in the wake of the recession, and that process is set to end in September. Policymakers are widely expected to cut rates by a quarter percentage point at the Fed’s meeting on Wednesday.

“The Fed moved, in my opinion, far too early and far too severely,” Mr. Trump told reporters Tuesday. “Fortunately, I made the economy so strong that nothing is going to stop us. But the Fed could have made it a lot easier. I would like to see a large cut, and I would like to see immediately the quantitative tightening stop.”