ECB's Lagarde warns of risk to world economy via Trump interference on Fed

PARIS (Reuters) -If U.S. President Donald Trump removed Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell or Fed governor Lisa Cook, then this would represent a "very serious danger for the U.S. economy and the world economy", the European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on Monday.

Speaking to French broadcaster Radio Classique in an interview, Lagarde said: "If U.S. monetary policy were no longer independent and instead dependent on the dictates of this or that person, then I believe that the effect on the balance of the American economy could, as a result of the effects this would have around the world, be very worrying, because it is the largest economy in the world."

Trump has repeatedly attacked the Fed’s chair, Jerome Powell, for not cutting the short-term interest rate and threatened to fire him. Trump is also attempting to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon;Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)