US President Donald Trump said on Twitter on Friday that he was quite happy with US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin’s performance, after the Wall Street Journal reported that he was dissatisfied with Mnuchin.
“I am extremely happy and proud of the job being done by @USTreasury Secretary @stevenmnuchin1,” Trump tweeted.
The Journal reported that Trump blames Mnuchin for the appointment of US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who has been steadily raising US interest rates.
Trump is concerned that higher rates could undercut economic gains ahead of his 2020 re-election bid, the newspaper reported.
Quoting unnamed sources, the Journal said that Trump has also expressed displeasure with Mnuchin over stock market turbulence and the Treasury secretary’s skepticism about the White House trade actions against China.
“The FAKE NEWS likes to write stories to the contrary, quoting phony sources or jealous people, but they aren’t true. They never like to ask me for a quote b/c it would kill their story,” Trump tweeted.
Trump has repeatedly criticized the Fed’s rate increases under Powell.
Last month, he called the Fed “crazy,” “ridiculous” and “my biggest threat.”
A year ago, when Trump picked Powell to head the Fed, Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc banker, was a strong advocate of his nomination.
The Wall Street Journal, citing a person familiar with the matter, said Trump, in a conversation with someone who praised Mnuchin’s performance, mentioned stock market volatility and said: “If he’s so good, why is this happening?”
The benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 index on Friday ended down 10.2 percent from its Sept. 20 closing high, confirming that it had entered a correction, a term used to describe a decline of at least 10 percent from the previous peak.
When the stock market has posted big gains, Trump has frequently tweeted about Wall Street’s performance.
On Oct. 2, he tweeted: “The Stock Market just reached an All-Time High during my Administration for the 102nd Time, a presidential record, by far, for less than two years.”
The Journal said Mnuchin has tried to moderate Trump’s policy in the trade dispute with China. The Republican president, seeking to slash a US$375 billion trade gap with China, has imposed tariffs on US$250 billion of Chinese imports to force concessions.
The Journal said that at a meeting last month, Mnuchin used the word “we” to refer to the administration’s tough-on-China trade practices.
Trump said: “What do you mean ‘we,’ Steve?” the Journal said, citing people familiar with the meeting.
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