White House says Trump wrote Powell to urge lower rates

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump wrote Fed Chair Jerome Powell urging him to lower interest rates, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday.

Leavitt, at a briefing, displayed a copy of Trump’s handwritten notes to Powell on a piece of paper showing the interest rates charged by more than two dozen countries. Trump believes interest rates should be lowered to about 1%, she said.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Steve Holland; Editing by Chris Reese)