Scott Bescent, US Treasury secretary, said he would not criticise the Federal Reserve chairperson and said the Trump administration was not focused on whether the central bank would cut its benchmark policy rate. Mr. Bescent's comments were notable given Mr. Trump's frequent criticisms of Jerome Powell, the Fed chairperson, during his first term as president, when he regularly called for interest rate cuts and explored the possibility of "firing" Mr. Powell. "I'm not going to make any comments on monetary policy," Mr. Bescent said of Mr. Powell in an interview on Thursday. "I trust him to do the right thing, so there will be no criticism."