During his current term, the President Lula (PT) spent most of his time criticizing the Central Bank president, at least describing him as “imagining”. Now it seems that Donald Trump has reached the same conclusion regarding the Federal Reserve, the central bank. In the words of Trump, the Federal Reserve Speaker is a person who “behaves against the population of the country” – a largely similar accusation had it not been for Roberto Campus Nito when he led monetary policy in Brazil.
The reason for criticism is identical: the political impact of high interest rates. Here, the “political influence” must be understood as the popularity of the ruler. Lula and Trump believes that high interest rates are the result of unwillingness – or even bad intentions – for people separated from the ordinary population and that, besides that, they have not been elected to their sites.
It is not publicly given that their own policies can affect interest rates. In the case of Trump, the Federal Reserve was underestimating attention until the former president began A commercial warfare war With the whole world, in intensity it has not seen almost a century. This measure created an environment of uncertainty, suspicion, and inflation expectations, and the central bank is placed in the face of the dilemma: if the benefit is reduced, it is easy to inflate; If it does not reduce it, this may exacerbate the recession.
Even Trump said that if he wanted to do so, he can shoot at the Federal Reserve Speaker – a case US Supreme Court You will decide. This is the big difference between him and Lula: In Brazil, STF has already realized the independence of the central bank, which limits the authority of the President of the Republic over the institution.
Thus, while Trump threatens to interfere directly with the federal reserve, Lula, despite his criticism, does not have the same strength to remove the President of Colombia. The difference between the two leaders and the central banks of each of them reflects a common struggle in many economies: the clash between technical monetary policy and immediate political interests.