U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with Larry Kudlow, director of the U.S. National Economic Council, right, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. Alex Edelman | Bloomberg | Getty Images

President Donald Trump's advisors reportedly are pushing him to focus on keeping the economy strong even if it means easing up on the trade dispute with China and his intense criticism of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. With the 2020 election looming, "plenty of people" inside the White House are telling Trump that trade wars are not "good and helpful," according to a Politico report behind the site's paywall. Along with the advice on China, the president is hearing from advisors telling him to lay off Powell, who is likely to lead a move next week to cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point, or 25 basis points.

Overall, the effort is to get Trump to avoid moves that will thwart economic growth, which appears to be slowing after a 2018 that saw GDP rise 2.9%. While the first quarter of this year came in at 3.1% growth, Q2 is expected to show an increase only around 2% and perhaps even less. For a president continuously under fire for controversial tweets and continuing impeachment threats from some progressive Democrats after the Robert Mueller Russia investigation, maintaining solid economic growth will serve as a pillar for the reelection campaign. The focus is to avoid "prosperity killers," Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council and a key Trump advisor, said in brief remarks to CNBC. "But that doesn't apply to easing up on China."

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