Elizabeth Warren Blames Trump's 'Dumb Trade War' For Fed's Grim Outlook: The President Is 'Standing In The Way Of Lower Rates And Lower Costs'

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is placing the blame for the Federal Reserve’s increasingly grim economic outlook on President Donald Trump’s trade and tariff policies.

What Happened: On Wednesday, Warren posted on X, citing Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s recent Congressional testimony to argue that Trump's tariffs are driving inflation and obstructing the Federal Reserve’s much-needed monetary policy relief package.

“Chair Powell confirmed Trump's dumb trade war is driving the Fed's forecast of higher inflation,” she said, adding that “The Fed now sees slower growth AND higher prices not just this year, but for the next two years,” as a result of the administration’s tariff policies.

Warren concludes that “Donald Trump is standing in the way of lower rates and lower costs for Americans,” while sharing a video snippet of Powell’s testimony on the matter.

In the snippet, Warren is seen asking pointed questions to Powell, starting with “What has changed in the last six months,” which has led the Fed to forecast higher inflation and unemployment rates, alongside lower economic growth than it did in December.

Powell responded by acknowledging the role of tariffs in the Fed's updated outlook, saying that “Some of it is just taking signal from new data reports, and some of it is the possible effects in the short term of tariffs,” while adding that the Fed does not comment on the wisdom of trade policy.

“Our forecasts are very similar to what outside forecasts are,” he noted.

Warren seized on this to double down on her criticism of Trump, saying that “Donald Trump has become President, and the economy is headed down.”

She adds that the Fed sees no longer-term boost to the economy, or a drop in inflation from all of this, so “in other words,” she says, “no upside to Trump’s chaotic tariff war or his other economic policies.”

Why It Matters: Warren, a long-time critic of the Trump administration, has come out against the latter’s economic policies over the past couple of months.

This week, she railed against the “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” which she says offers big tax breaks for companies like Meta Platforms Inc. META.

She’s also repeatedly made calls for Congress to block Trump’s ability to impose new tariffs by nullifying the legal justification he is using to do so.

Last week, she warned that “The Fed is getting boxed out by the President's chaotic economic policies,” while adding that Americans deserved lower costs and interest rates, but were being held back by Trump and his “reckless tariffs.”

Photo courtesy: Sheila Fitzgerald / Shutterstock.com

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