(Kitco News) U.S. President Joe Biden laid out his latest plan to fight inflation a day before his requested meeting with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
"I won't meddle with the Fed, but I will tackle high prices while guiding the economy's transition to stable and steady growth," Biden wrote in an opinion piece published by Wall Street Journal Monday.
The promise not to interfere with the U.S. central bank comes as Biden summoned Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to the White House to discuss inflation and the state of the economy. This will be the first meeting between Biden and Powell this year.
"The President's top economic priority: addressing inflation," according to the statement by the White House.
The U.S. Treasury Secretary Janel Yellen will join the meeting, scheduled for 1:15 pm ET time.
In his op-ed, Biden described the American people as "anxious" in the face of multi-decade high inflation and blamed Russia's President Vladimir Putin for exacerbating the problem. "Supply chains that haven't fully healed are causing shortages and price hikes," he wrote.
Biden sounded optimistic and outlined a three-part plan — the Fed, lowering the cost of everyday goods, and reducing the federal deficit.
On the Fed, Biden stated: "The Federal Reserve has a primary responsibility to control inflation. My predecessor demeaned the Fed, and past presidents have sought to influence its decisions inappropriately during periods of elevated inflation. I won't do this. I have appointed highly qualified people from both parties to lead that institution."
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To reduce the costs for families, Biden pledged to fix broken supply chains, improve infrastructure, and bring down foreign ocean freight companies' fees.
"The U.S. economy may grow faster this year than China's economy for the first time since 1976," he said. "With the right policies, the U.S. can transition from recovery to stable, steady growth and bring down inflation without giving up all these historic gains."
Biden also warned that it is very likely that the U.S. economy will see record employment growth slow.
To read the full op-ed, click here.
The latest data for April revealed that annual inflation in the U.S. was at 8.3%, which is slightly lower than the 8.5% reported in March but still near the four-decade highs.
Also, the Fed's preferred inflation measure — core PCE — was up 4.3% in April from a year ago, which was also a deceleration from March.
