President Barack Obama met with Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Monday to discuss the U.S. economy amid signs that growth may be slowing as consumers retreat from spending.
Before the afternoon meeting, White House press secretary Josh Earnest described Obama as “pleased” with Yellen, whom he appointed to lead the Fed in 2014. It is the first time since November 2014 that the Fed chair has met with the president on her own. The meeting was closed to the news media.
The backdrop is an economy showing signs that it’s hit a soft patch. Consumers, who’ve been keeping growth afloat, reined in spending at the start of 2016, with auto sales last month slumping to the lowest level in a year.
Weakening demand abroad and a relatively strong dollar are causing the trade deficit to grow, and companies have cut output to trim bloated inventories.
“It’s an opportunity for them in some ways to trade notes on something they’re both looking at quite carefully,” Earnest told reporters before the meeting, while emphasizing Yellen’s independence from the president.
Obama and Yellen “discussed both the near- and long-term growth outlook, the state of the labor market, inequality and potential risks to the economy, both in the United States and globally,” the White House said in a statement after the meeting. They also discussed Obama administration efforts to strengthen the government’s regulation of Wall Street, the statement said.
The Fed raised interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade in December but recently has signaled it would exercise caution on additional hikes because of concerns about a flagging global economy.
