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Trade policy and monetary policy rarely share a stage with equal billing.
President Donald Trump doubled down on a threat to cut off trade with top partners unless the Federal Reserve slashes interest rates, directly linking the cost of money to the flow of goods across some of the most significant bilateral relationships the United States holds.
The condition Trump attached is specific: countries with which the United States runs a trade deficit risk losing market access if the Fed holds its policy rate.
The threat applies, by that framing, to some of the country's largest and most economically intertwined trade relationships. The reiteration matters as a signal.
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