PARIS, Sept 1 — Steps by US President Donald Trump to remove Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell or Fed governor Lisa Cook would represent a “very serious danger for the US economy and the world economy”, said European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde today.

Trump has repeatedly attacked the Fed’s chair, Jerome Powell, for not cutting the short-term interest rate and threatened to fire him. Trump is also attempting to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.

“If US monetary policy were no longer independent and instead dependent on the dictates of this or that person, then I believe that the effect on the balance of the American economy could, as a result of the effects this would have around the world, be very worrying, because it is the largest economy in the world,” Lagarde told Radio Classique.

Lagarde also told Radio Classique that a ruling on Friday by a US appeals court that most of Donald Trump’s tariffs were illegal were adding a “further layer of uncertainty” to the global economic outlook. — Reuters