Trump: Janet Yellen Keeping Interest Rates Low as Political Favor to Obama

According to Donald Trump, Janet Yellen's decision to delay hiking interest rates is motivated by politics. 

“This is a political thing, keeping these interest rates at this level,” Trump, the billionaire Republican presidential candidate, said in a Wednesday interview with Bloomberg Television's Stephanie Ruhle. “Janet Yellen for political reasons is keeping interest rates so low that the next guy or person who takes over as president could have a real problem.”

That problem spurred by raising rates, Trump argued, could be “a recession or worse.”

On the other hand, Trump faulted the Federal Reserve for not having acted sooner. “Yellen is keeping rates too low, too long,” Trump said. 

The Republican front-runner also took aim at corporate inversions, which he cited as a major factor contributing to what he sees as a stagnating U.S. economy. Inversions will accelerate as more companies leave the U.S. for lower taxes and because “they can't get the money” back into the U.S., Trump said. 

Trump's tax plan includes a lower business income rate of 15 percent, which is aimed at making “corporate inversions unnecessary,” according to his website. His plan would also impose a lower tax rate to encourage corporations to bring cash held overseas back to the U.S.

Businesses “don’t have the loyalty to the United States that they used to have,” said Trump, who himself owns a golf course in Scotland.

Trump also said Wall Street banks are criticized for paying executives too much because “they're very bad at public relations.” Instead of settling lawsuits with regulators, they should prolong the legal fight, he said.

“I don’t want to use Jamie Dimon as an example, because he's a good man,” Trump added. “But these guys should fight harder. They get sued and they settle.”