Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, the billionaire backer of newly minted President-elect Donald Trump, endorsed the idea of allowing presidents to intervene on Federal Reserve policy.
In response to a Thursday social media post from Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, which called for the Fed to be under the direction of the president, Musk on Friday posted the “100” emoji used to convey agreement.
Sen. Lee had punctuated his post with “#EndtheFed.”
Though brief, Musk’s comment reflects a broader pressure campaign on Fed independence that could take shape in the next Trump administration.
On Thursday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said he would not resign from his post if Trump asked him to do so. That marked the revival of what could again evolve into a contentious relationship between the Fed chair and the president-elect.
The tradition of Fed independence aims to give the central bank the ability to shape monetary policy decisions — such as raising or lowering interest rates — based solely on the future health of the U.S. economy.
But during his first term in office, Trump was not shy about breaking from tradition and publicly disparaging Powell and his policy decisions.
Over the course of the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump also often flirted with the idea of giving himself a say in Fed policy if he were to win the White House again.
“I feel the president should have at least [a] say in there,” Trump said in August at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. “I think that in my case, I made a lot of money, I was very successful, and I think I have a better instinct than, in many cases, people that would be on the Federal Reserve or the chairman.”