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, \u201cI will do so at the appropriate time.\u201d<\/p>\n
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, \u201cI will demand that interest rates be lowered immediately.\u201d At the Oval Office ceremony, he explained, \u201cIf oil prices come down, prices will come down, and then there will be no inflation. Then interest rates will come down.\u201d When asked whether he thought the Federal Reserve would respond to such a request, he confidently answered, \u201cYes,\u201d and emphasized that he would take a \u201cstrong stance.\u201d He further stated that he hoped interest rates would drop \u201ca lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
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, \u201cChina is already paying a lot of tariffs because of me.\u201d He reaffirmed that tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada would all go into effect starting February 1.<\/p>\n
Trump also reaffirmed his position on NATO, reiterating that member countries should increase their defence spending from 2% to 5% of their GDP. \u201cWe don\u2019t protect them, they don\u2019t protect us, so I don\u2019t know why we should spend anything,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
When asked about whether he would support an Israeli airstrike on Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities, Trump declined to answer, saying, \u201cI\u2019ll meet with a variety of people in the coming weeks, and I hope we can solve the (Iran nuclear issue) without worrying about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the topic of Tesla CEO Elon Musk\u2019s criticism of his announced $500 billion Stargate plan for artificial intelligence (AI), Trump said he wasn\u2019t concerned. Musk had previously criticized the plan, which was announced by OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank of Japan, stating that they \u201cdon\u2019t really have (that much) money.\u201d Trump commented that Musk\u2019s criticism was personal, saying, \u201cElon just hates one of those guys. But I hate certain people, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finally, President Trump announced that he would appeal the federal court’s decision to block his executive order on “birthright citizenship restriction.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"