Trump says he will cease trading with top partners unless Fed lowers rates

President Donald Trump threatened on Friday to prevent the US from trading with many nations unless the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates.

“LOWER THE RATE OR I’LL STOP TRADING WITH COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE HAVE A DEFICIT, which the U.S. Supreme Court, in its ridiculous and very costly Tariff decision, strongly acknowledged ‘the President’ has an absolute right to do,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “IT’S BETTER THAN TARIFFS! The Fed Board, with its great new leader, must get smart - BE PATRIOTS for a change.”

A trade deficit occurs when a country imports more than it exports. At over $200 billion, the US ran its largest trade deficit with China last year, followed by Mexico and Vietnam. Overall the US ran a $1.2 trillion trade deficit with all trading partners last year, according to federal trade data.

It’s not the first time this week Trump has rallied for lower interest rates, saying to reporters in the Oval Office Monday that it was “ridiculous” to talk about raising them.

“It’s ridiculous because success in growth does not cause inflation,” Trump said Monday. “Inflation’s caused for other reasons.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普周五威胁称，除非美联储降低利率，否则美国将停止与许多国家的贸易往来。

“要么降低利率，要么我就停止与存在贸易逆差的国家进行贸易。美国最高法院在其荒谬且代价高昂的关税裁决中，明确承认‘总统’拥有绝对的权力这样做，”特朗普在Truth Social网站上发帖称。“这比关税好多了！美联储理事会及其伟大的新领导人必须醒悟过来——是时候展现爱国情怀了！”

当一个国家的进口额超过出口额时，就会出现贸易逆差。去年，美国对中国的贸易逆差超过2000亿美元，创历史新高，其次是墨西哥和越南。根据联邦贸易数据，去年美国与所有贸易伙伴的贸易逆差总额为1.2万亿美元。

这并非特朗普本周第一次呼吁降低利率。​​周一，他在椭圆形办公室对记者表示，谈论提高利率是“荒谬的”。

特朗普周一表示：“这太荒谬了，因为经济增长并不会导致通货膨胀。通货膨胀是由其他原因造成的。”

这是一则正在更新的新闻。