Donald Trump criticized the Federal Reserve's decision to cut its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point, stating that it showed the US economy was either “very bad” or the central bank was “playing politics.

We concluded that this was the right thing for the economy and the people we serve,” the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, said, referring to the central bank’s decision to cut interest rates by half a point.

"We're always going into this meeting and asking 'What's the right thing to do for the people we serve?' We do that and we make a decision as a group and then we announce it. That's always what it is,