"US Fed Must Receive Presidential Orders," Musk Also "Agrees"

Fed's Independence Status Shaken

Yonhap News

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, expressed support for the claim that the president should be able to direct the United States central bank, the Federal Reserve (Fed).

Musk retweeted a post by Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah), who made this claim, on X (formerly Twitter) and added an emoji indicating a "100 points" score. Senator Lee cited an article from December 8 stating that Fed Chair Jerome Powell refused to resign despite demands from President-elect Donald Trump, arguing, "Executive agencies must follow the president's orders. That is how the Constitution is designed." Earlier,

Chairman Powell, after the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decided on December 7 to lower the benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to 4.50?4.75%, dismissed a question at a press conference asking if he would resign if President-elect Trump demanded it by saying "NO."

Senator Lee commented on this, saying, "This is one of many examples showing how the Fed has strayed from the Constitution," adding, "Another reason why we must end the Fed." He also tagged the post with the hashtag '#EndtheFed.'

CNBC, a U.S. financial media outlet, analyzed that Musk's support for this claim, given his elevated political status as a major supporter of President-elect Trump, could concretize pressure on the Fed's independence during Trump's second term. The Fed is guaranteed independence to make monetary policy decisions based solely on the outlook for the U.S. economy.

President-elect Trump has long been at odds with Powell, whom he appointed. The Fed's unexpected "big cut" (a 0.5 percentage point rate cut) in September, which contradicted market expectations, unsettled former President Trump's stance that no rate cuts were needed before the election. Additionally, during a press conference in August when he was a presidential candidate, Trump said regarding Fed monetary policy, "The president should at least have a say," adding, "In my case, I have made a lot of money and been very successful, and in many cases, I think I have better instincts than the Fed or those who would become its chair."