President Donald Trump praised the Federal Reserve on Sunday for dramatically slashing interest rates in reaction to the spread of the coronavirus.
“I congratulate the Federal Reserve. I think it’s terrific,” Trump said.
The U.S. Federal Reserve announced Sunday that they would slash interest rates by a full point to a range of 0.25 to zero. They also announced $700 billion in bond purchases to strengthen the economy — $500 billion in Treasuries and $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities.
The president has repeatedly criticized the Federal Reserve for failing to react quickly enough to the crisis, demanding that they dramatically cut rates.
“The Federal Reserve must be a leader, not a very late follower, which it has been!” Trump wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.
On Sunday, the president finally got his wish, which he said was a surprise.
“I think it’s a tremendous thing,” Trump said. “I would think that there are a lot of people on Wall Street that are happy and I can tell you that I’m very happy, I didn’t expect this. I like being surprised. “