President Donald Trump announced on the 23rd that he plans to meet with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to request a significant interest rate cut. During an executive order signing ceremony in the Oval Office that same day, Trump was asked if he would talk to Powell about lowering interest rates, to which he replied, “I will do so at the appropriate time.”
Earlier, at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, which he attended via video conference, Trump called on Saudi Arabia and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to lower oil prices. He stated that if oil prices fell, “I will demand that interest rates be lowered immediately.” At the Oval Office ceremony, he explained, “If oil prices come down, prices will come down, and then there will be no inflation. Then interest rates will come down.” When asked whether he thought the Federal Reserve would respond to such a request, he confidently answered, “Yes,” and emphasized that he would take a “strong stance.” He further stated that he hoped interest rates would drop “a lot.”
Regarding his planned tariffs on China, Trump was asked why the rate would be lower (10%) compared to those on Mexico and Canada (25%). He explained that China had already been heavily taxed during his first term, saying, “China is already paying a lot of tariffs because of me.” He reaffirmed that tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada would all go into effect starting February 1.
Trump also reaffirmed his position on NATO, reiterating that member countries should increase their defence spending from 2% to 5% of their GDP. “We don’t protect them, they don’t protect us, so I don’t know why we should spend anything,” he said. On international relations, he expressed intentions to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin as soon as possible, stressing the need for Russia to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.
When asked about whether he would support an Israeli airstrike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Trump declined to answer, saying, “I’ll meet with a variety of people in the coming weeks, and I hope we can solve the (Iran nuclear issue) without worrying about that.”
On the topic of Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s criticism of his announced $500 billion Stargate plan for artificial intelligence (AI), Trump said he wasn’t concerned. Musk had previously criticized the plan, which was announced by OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank of Japan, stating that they “don’t really have (that much) money.” Trump commented that Musk’s criticism was personal, saying, “Elon just hates one of those guys. But I hate certain people, too.”
Finally, President Trump announced that he would appeal the federal court’s decision to block his executive order on “birthright citizenship restriction.”