President Trump is calling for lower interest rates after the Federal Reserve announced it would hold them steady amid uncertainty over his plans for tariffs on imported goods.

Rejecting the traditional independence of the central bank, Trump Thursday called on the Fed to “do the right thing” and lower borrowing costs to keep the economy humming as he imposes taxes on imported goods that most economists believe will increase inflation.

“The Fed would be MUCH better off CUTTING RATES as U.S.Tariffs start to transition (ease!) their way into the economy,” Trump wrote on his social media site.

The Fed voted Wednesday to keep rates steady for a second straight month after lowering them at the previous three monthly meetings.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the impact and extent of Trump’s tariff plan remains unclear.

But the central banker said tariffs could lead to more inflation and would likely prevent policymakers from lowering rates as much and as quickly as they might otherwise do as the economy softens.

Slightly more Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, but layoffs remain historically low.

U.S. jobless claims filings rose by 2,000 to 223,000 for the week ending March 15, the Labor Department said Thursday. That’s just less than the 224,000 new applications analysts forecast.

Weekly applications for jobless benefits are considered a proxy for layoffs, and have remained mostly in a range between 200,000 and 250,000 for the past few years.

It’s not clear when job cuts ordered by the Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE,” will show up in the weekly layoffs report.

Economists don’t expect the federal workforce layoffs to have much of an impact until the March jobs report.