Biden says Fed made ‘declaration of progress’ with interest rate cut

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Thursday the Federal Reserve’s decision to lower interest rates was “an important signal” that inflation has eased as he poked at Donald Trump’s economic policies as a failure in the past and sure to “fail again” if revived.

“Lowering interest rates isn’t a declaration of victory,” Biden told the Economic Club of Washington, D.C. “It’s a declaration of progress, to signal we’ve entered a new phase of our economy and our recovery.”

The Democratic president emphasized that there was more work left to do, but he used his speech to burnish his economic legacy even as he criticized Trump, his Republican predecessor who is running for another term.

“Trickle down down economics failed,” Biden said. “He’s promising again trickle down economics. It will fail again.”

Biden said Trump wants to extend tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the wealthy, costing an estimated $5 trillion, and implement tariffs that could raise prices by nearly $4,000 per family, something that Biden described as a “new sales tax.”

A spokesman for Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But Trump has routinely hammered Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate this year, over higher costs.

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