Trump calls for US interest rates to be reduced to 1% or less after the Federal Reserve raises

(CNN) - In his first comment since the US Federal Reserve (central bank) raised the benchmark interest rate, on Wednesday, President Donald Trump reiterated that interest rates should be lower.

Trump wrote on his platform, Truth Social: “Interest rates in the United States should be 1% or less, because we have the best credit rating in the world - by a wide margin.” “Our country is witnessing a tremendous boom in new investments.”

He added: “If we stopped trading with every country with which we have a trade deficit - which is most countries - we would achieve at least $1.5 trillion annually. The word (deficit) is nothing but a fancy term for the word (loss). We (bear the burdens) of almost every country in the world, and this situation cannot continue any longer. Lower interest rates for the United States of America, and quickly.”

Trump has long called for lower interest rates, and earlier this month threatened to block the United States from trading with several countries unless the Federal Reserve lowered them.

However, Trump avoided directly criticizing Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh in his post on Wednesday.

Earlier the same day, Warsh refused to comment on the matter when he was asked about the pressure exerted by the American President.