Jerome Powell, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, right, walks with Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank (ECB), during the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, April 20, 2018.

It's quite ironic that President Donald Trump is criticizing the outgoing head of the European Central Bank for "currency manipulation" when he's counting on his own central bank head, Jerome Powell, to do the exact same thing.

Mario Draghi indicated the ECB could add fresh stimulus to a struggling eurozone economy, a comment that has pushed German interest rates deeper into negative territory and has driven the euro down to $1.11.

Draghi, as the Federal Reserve does, has every reason and right to contemplate further stimulus, whether it's some kind of rate cut, more quantitative easing or other measures that would keep the entire continent from sliding into recession.

Despite Trump's constant calls for the Fed to cut rates, in the absence of any looming inflationary threat, the ECB has a much stronger argument for making a move. Unlike the U.S., the eurozone is tilting toward recession. German manufacturing, the engine of European growth, has stalled. France, Italy and Spain have seen recession-like conditions, while Italy's heavy debt burden has complicated the outlook across the pond. Also, with the prospects of a so-called No Deal Brexit looming, if the U.K crashes out of the EU, economic troubles could spread from Britain to Berlin.

The biggest reason the euro is weakening is not currency manipulation but the fact that the U.S. is still better off than the rest of the world. Positive interest rates in the U.S., in contrast to $12 trillion in negative yielding sovereign debt around the world, is drawing investors into U.S. Treasury bonds, pushing up the value of the dollar. Rates in Germany and Japan aren't necessarily negative because of central bank intervention — that would be confusing cause and effect. Real rates are negative around the world because the world is not growing.

Contrast that to the U.S., where there has been an obvious slowing of economic activity, but the outlook has yet to indicate recession on the immediate horizon. True, with interest rates in the U.S. plunging, a good portion of the Treasury yield curve inverting, consumer spending decelerating for three straight quarters and no end to the trade war with China in sight, it may well be advisable for the Fed to "take back" its December rate cut as early as Wednesday.