President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates in September, following the central bank's decision to keep its benchmark rate at 4.25% to 4.5%.

The Fed has not lowered rates since December of last year, and President Trump has been a vocal critic of Fed Chair Jerome Powell and the central bank, which has favored holding steady despite low inflation and a strong economic outlook.

Powell said the Fed was proceeding cautiously because of uncertainty surrounding Trump's tariffs.

Trump was asked what he would say to economic analysts who raised concerns that lowering rates could lead to rising inflation, after he signed the Veterans Housing Loan Program Reform Act, a bill that provides a safety net for veteran homeowners struggling through difficult times. The event took place before the Fed announced its decision to hold interest rates steady.

"If that happens, we just raise it," Trump responded. "We want to lower it and see if we have inflation. We don't have inflation right now. Everyone thought we were going to have inflation. All we have is billions and billions of dollars pouring into our country from other countries that have been ripping us off for years," he said.

"So if that happens, we'll raise rates and do whatever we have to do to stop inflation. But we're keeping rates high and we're stopping people from buying houses. And we don't want that. If that happens in one or two years, for some reason, if inflation starts to come back in right now (I don't know), it's not happening. We're doing great. I think it's going to be the most tremendous economy in history. We have money pouring in, numbers that nobody could have ever imagined," Trump said.

Trump reiterated that high interest rates are costing the federal government billions of dollars annually in interest on the national debt.

"Every point that this gentleman (Powell) keeps it up costs us $365 billion a year," he said. "Think of it, $365 billion for 1 (percent) point. If they lower it by 1 point, we save $365 billion. We should have the lowest interest rates. But we don't. We're at 38 (trillion dollars). We're at $38 trillion because of the Federal Reserve. It's all because of the Fed. He's done a bad job. We have a meeting today, but I called him 'too late.' He's always too late. Even if he does it today, it probably won't happen. I heard they're going to do it in September. Not today. For what reason? Nobody knows," he said.

Trump mentioned that the European Central Bank had lowered rates 11 times recently, and added, "But the good news is, we're doing better than anywhere in the world. Nobody's even close to us. And that's with higher interest rates. But higher interest rates affect the housing market. Because people can't get loans or refinance their houses. It would be nice if they could do that. That would be another very big check mark."

U.S. NNP=Sung Ku Hong, Chief Reporter info@newsandpost.com