Amid Trump's attacks, US Fed says trade war, not rates, undermining economy

Trump has elevated his criticism of the central bank to a shrill level in recent weeks

President Donald Trump has a pithy message to Americans worried about the economy: It’s the Fed, Fed, Fed.

The Federal Reserve has a snappy retort: It’s trade, trade, trade.

Central bank officials are loath to engage the president directly. But as they gathered this week in Wyoming, policy makers explained again and again how trade disputes are poisoning the global economy and making their job more difficult.

“The fulcrum or center of gravity of the US economic policy today is not monetary policy, it is trade uncertainty,” Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan said Thursday as the Kansas City Fed’s annual