Trump: Won't Fire Fed's Powell, 'May Have to Force' Rates

President Donald Trump on Thursday said he would not fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, adding that he "may have to force something" as part of his ongoing push for the central bank to lower rates.

Trump said he can't get Powell to lower rates. 

“If you think there’s inflation, let’s find out,” Trump said he told Powell recently. “Let’s say there was inflation in a year from now. Raise your rates. You don't have to keep them up here.

"If it's going to go up, I'm OK with you raising — but it's down, and we're going out to financing, and I may have to force something," he said at the White House.

Trump last week had said that a decision on the next Fed chair would come very soon.

Speaking at the White House on Thursday, Trump slammed the Fed chair over the lack of rate cuts, calling him a numbskull but adding: "I'm not going to fire him." Trump also said he was unhappy about rising oil prices.