WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump, who last week suggested Fed Chairman Jerome Powell could be an enemy, is now saying that the central bank “loves” the troubles that U.S. manufacturers are facing.

The president’s tweet Tuesday appears to be his latest effort pressure the central bank to lower interest rates more quickly.

But a former top Fed official is pushing back on Trump’s repeated attacks on the Fed and Powell. Bill Dudley, former president of the Fed’s New York regional bank, argues that the Fed should stop enabling Trump’s trade war with China.

Dudley wrote in a Bloomberg Opinion piece that if the Fed were to accommodate the president, it could encourage him to escalate his trade war and increase the risk of a recession.

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