Trump: Fed Chair 'Almost Looks Happy' Raising Interest Rates

President Donald Trump ripped into the Federal Reserve chairman Tuesday, telling the Wall Street Journal that Jerome Powell "almost looks like he's happy raising interest rates."

"I'm just saying this: I'm very unhappy with the Fed because Obama had zero interest rates [while in office]," Trump said. "Every time we do something great, he raises the interest rates."

The Fed has raised interest rates three times this year and is expected to do so again before the year ends and three more times in 2019. In September, the agency bumped the benchmark rate to a range between 2 and 2.25 percent.

The president during his interview with the Journal touted the country's economic growth – the jobless rate has fallen to 3.7 percent, and incomes are at record highs. When asked what he viewed as the biggest risks to the economy, he said: "To me, the Fed is the biggest risk, because I think interest rates are being raised too quickly. How the hell do you compete with that."

When asked whether he regretted nominating Powell for the post, Trump said it was "too early to tell, but maybe."

But the president demurred when the Journal asked whether he would remove Powell.

"I don't know," he said. "I'm just saying this: I'm very unhappy with the Fed because Obama had zero interest rates."

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