President-elect Trump on Tuesday declared interest rates are too high even as he decried still-elevated inflation, setting up renewed tensions with the central bank chair who resisted pressure cut rates during his first term. "We are inheriting a difficult situation from the outgoing administration, and they're trying everything they can to make it more difficult. Inflation is continuing to rage, and interest rates are far too high,” Trump said during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. High prices and the economy proved a winning message for Republicans on the campaign trail, even as the Biden administration made massive gains in bringing down pandemic-induced inflation. The Federal Reserve hiked interest rates to two-decade highs between March 2022 and July 2023 as inflation soared, peaking at 9.1 percent in June 2022. The consumer price index clocked in at 2.7 percent year-over-year in November, still above the Fed’s 2 percent target. As inflation has come down, the Fed finally cut interest rates for the first time in September and again in November and December. The federal funds rate is currently 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the panel of Fed officials responsible for setting monetary policy such as interest rates, is slated to meet again at the end of the month, shortly after Trump takes office. Trump, who appointed Fed Chair Jerome Powell during his first term in 2017, frequently pushed the politically independent Fed to cut rates during his first term to advance his political goals. He frequently broke from tradition by publicly rebuking Powell, whom he has said he would not reappoint. However, Trump said he will allow Powell to serve out his term, which ends in 2026. Powell said after the election that he would not step down if Trump asked him to. While Powell tried to stay out of the limelight during the campaign, Trump's comments repeatedly dragged him back into the political spotlight. The president-elect blasted Powell as “political” during the campaign and suggested he would cut rates ahead of the election to help Democrats. While the FOMC announced a 50 basis point cut in September, Democrats still lost the White House and control of the Senate and failed to capture a majority in the House. During the elections, Trump also suggested he should “have at least a say” over monetary policy because he “made a lot of money.” While he appeared to soften that stance during an interview with Bloomberg, he still said “it’s fine for a president to talk.” “It doesn’t mean that they have to listen,” Trump said.