Trump wants a role in setting interest rates. Some economists say it’s a bad idea WHIO TV 7 and WHIO Radio [Video]

NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump recently said the president should have a role in setting interest rates that determine costs for everything from mortgages to credit card loans.

The proposal would mark a major shift from the longstanding norm of political independence at the Federal Reserve, which currently retains control over interest rate policy. The nation’s central bank is in the midst of a yearslong fight to dial back inflation.

“I feel the president should have at least [a] say in there,” Trump said during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida last week. “I feel that strongly. 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.”

The policy idea elicited opposition from both liberal and …