Trump should stop criticising Fed with tweets, says Lagarde

Bloomberg

Incoming European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde said central banks best operate in a regime of independence and President Donald Trump shouldn’t interfere with the US Federal Reserve.
“Market stability should not be the subject of a tweet here or a tweet there,” Lagarde said in an interview with CBS ‘60 Minutes’ correspondent John Dickerson.
It requires thought and consideration, she said.
Lagarde described the job of central banking as similar to “navigating a plane” with policy makers having “to watch everything.”
Leaning on the Fed to lower rates now could be inappropriate, she suggested. When the unemployment rate is so low — now 3.5% in the US — “you don’t want to accelerate that too much by lowering interest rates because the risk you take is that then prices begin go up.”
Trump has relentlessly attacked the Fed for its policies. “Fed Rate too high. They are their own worst enemies, they don’t have a clue. Pathetic!” he tweeted on October 1.
Lagarde was interviewed by CBS last month at her home in Normandy and at the International Monetary Fund headquarters in Washington, according to a preview of the segment released by the network.
“My very, very strong message to all policymakers is please sit down like big men, many men in those rooms and put everything on the table, and try to deal bit by bit, piece by piece, so that we have certainty,” CBS quoted Lagarde as saying.