The president has repeatedly argued that Powell, the Fed chair, and the rest of the central bank are “clueless” for keeping interest rates higher than in other countries. Trump is right that the dollar is strong — making American exports more expensive — although that has much more to do with the relative health of the U.S. economy than with anything the central bank does.

The U.S. also has a faster rate of growth compared to economies like Japan and the European Union, where central banks have resorted to negative rates for years in an attempt to stimulate growth.

Businesses widely point to uncertainty from trade tensions rather than high borrowing costs as denting their confidence. More than half of CEOs from the largest U.S. companies said last month that trade policy had had a negative impact on their sales and one-third reported a negative impact on hiring.

"There’s no doubt the escalation in U.S.-China trade tensions is holding back the U.S. economy,” Business Roundtable President Joshua Bolten told reporters on Sept. 18. BRT represents roughly 200 CEOs.

Companies have been more hesitant to commit to investments amid the high-stakes economic conflict between the U.S. and China, which has been gradually escalating since early 2018. The president’s newly negotiated U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, faces an uncertain future in Congress, leaving open the threat that he might try to unilaterally withdraw from the existing trade agreement with those countries, NAFTA.

The European Union is also bracing for new U.S. tariffs on billions of dollars worth of exports, as the two economies have failed to resolve a long-running spat on commercial aircraft subsidies, and Trump has threatened tariffs on European cars.

The Institute for Supply Management, a group of purchasing managers, on Tuesday said manufacturing contracted in September and new export orders, slammed by the trade war, saw a sharp drop. The ISM index came in at 47.8 — below 50 is a contraction.

“There is no end in sight to this slowdown,” said Torsten Slok, chief economist at Deutsche Bank Securities. “The recession risk is real.”

In an attempt to head off a downturn, the Fed has already cut rates twice this year, though nowhere nearly as aggressively as Trump has been calling for.

Powell told reporters last month that the U.S. economy remains in a “good place,” despite risks from trade tensions and slowing global growth that have led to weaker business investment and falling manufacturing output.

“The U.S. economy has continued to perform well,” Powell said. “We are into the 11th year of this economic expansion, and the baseline outlook remains favorable. The economy grew at a 2.5 percent pace in the first half of the year. Household spending — supported by a strong job market, rising incomes, and solid consumer confidence — has been the key driver of growth.”