Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee on Monday urged against reducing the central bank’s independence as President Donald Trump amped up criticism of Chair Jerome Powell.

“The long run expectations that the Fed would get inflation back down to the 2% target were critically important. Fed independence is critically important for that,” Goolsbee said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

“When there is interference over the long run, it’s going to mean higher inflation, it’s going to mean worse growth and higher unemployment, because there’s just going to be a little less willingness to step up and do the hard things when the moment is tough,” he said, while declining to comment directly on what Trump has said.

Trump levied another salvo at Powell on Friday for not lowering interest rates. There have also been talks that Trump may try to pull strings on monetary policy both by legislation and possibly by installing a “shadow chair” who could undermine Powell’s authority.

“If we had a Fed Chairman that understood what he was doing, interest rates would be coming down, too,” Trump said, pointing to examples of falling prices. “He should bring them [interest rates] down.”

White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said Friday that Trump and his team are assessing whether they can remove the Fed chair. Powell has said previously that he cannot be fired under law and intends to serve through the end of his term as chair in May 2026.

“I’ve been at the Fed for a little over two years. Before I was ever at the Fed, I would tell you, economists are basically unanimous that Fed independence is critically important,” said Goolsbee. “And to see why, just look at the countries where they don’t have Fed independence. Inflation is higher, unemployment is higher, growth is worse.”

BEIJING — China on Monday warned it will retaliate against countries that cooperate with the U.S. in ways that compromise Beijing’s interests, as the trade war between the world’s two largest economies threatens to embroil other nations.

China’s warning comes as U.S. President Donald Trump‘s administration is reportedly planning to use tariff negotiations to pressure U.S. partners to limit their dealings with China. Trump this month paused major tariff increases on other countries for 90 days, while hiking duties further on goods from China to 145%.

“China firmly opposes any party reaching a deal at the expense of China’s interests. If this happens, China will not accept it and will resolutely take reciprocal countermeasures,” the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said, according to a CNBC translation.

The ministry cautioned about the risk to all countries once international trade returns to the “law of the jungle.”

The statement also sought to cast China as willing to work with all parties and “defend international fairness and justice,” while describing the U.S. actions as “abusing tariffs” and “unilateral bullying.”

In a shift toward a harder stance this month, China retaliated against U.S. tariffs with levies of 125% on imports of American goods. Beijing has also restricted critical minerals exports and put several, mostly smaller, U.S. companies on blacklists that restrict their ability to work with Chinese companies.

Analysts don’t expect the U.S. and China to reach a deal anytime soon, although Trump on Thursday said he expected an agreement could be reached in the next three to four weeks.

Chinese President Xi Jinping last week visited Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia in his first overseas trip of 2025. In official Chinese readouts of his meetings with the three countries’ leaders, Xi called for joint efforts to oppose tariffs and “unilateral bullying.”

Since Trump imposed tariffs on China during his first term, the Asian country has increased its trade with Southeast Asia, now China’s largest trading partner on a regional basis. The U.S. remains China’s largest trading partner on a single-country basis.

Last week, China’s Ministry of Commerce replaced its top international trade negotiator with Li Chenggang, who also became a vice minister and has been the country’s ambassador to the World Trade Organization. China has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. with the WTO over Trump’s latest tariff increases.