Trump’s Fed Threat Is Risk to Prices, Incoming ECB Official Says

Incoming Austrian central bank Governor Martin Kocher said Donald Trump’s attack on the Federal Reserve’s independence puts price stability at risk.

The former economy minister — who’s set to replace Robert Holzmann on the European Central Bank’s Governing Council in September — said Trump’s administration is disregarding Fed independence based on dubious legal reasoning and with the clearly stated desire to reduce US debt costs.

Martin Kocher

Photographer: Betty Laura Zapata/Bloomberg

“A government can find more short-term financial maneuvering room via lower interest rates, more money supply or the direct financing of expenses if it steers both fiscal and monetary policy,” Kocher …