President Trump blamed the Federal Reserve Tuesday for higher rates that he says impedes the economy’s growth.

“Economic numbers looking REALLY good,” the president tweeted. “Can you imagine if I had long term ZERO interest rates to play with like the past administration, rather than the rapidly raised normalized rates we have today. That would have been SO EASY! Still, markets up BIG since 2016 Election!”

Mr. Trump has repeatedly found issue with the Federal Reserve and its chairman, Jerome Powell, because they have steadily increased interest rates despite the president’s insistent urging to do otherwise.

Most recently, the Fed raised the rates from 2.25 to 2.5 percent in late December.

The president reportedly looked into the legality of firing Mr. Powell, although his new acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said in an interview with ABC that Mr. Trump “now realizes” he doesn’t have the authority.

Mr. Powell, speaking at a recent economic conference in Atlanta, said he has no plans to step down if Mr. Trump asks him to and suggested there might be a pause in rate hikes.

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