President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit the Federal Reserve in person Thursday — an unusual move that’s also a major escalation in the White House’s pressure campaign against Chair Jerome Powell.

President Donald Trump visited the Federal Reserve, confronting Chairman Jerome Powell over interest rates and renovation costs.

President Trump's visit to the Fed is the latest development in his long-running fight with Fed Chair Powell that has focused on interest rates

There is still time to avoid this cliff. Trump is right to worry about surging debt costs, but he's targeting a symptom of the problem. The solution isn't to fire Powell -- it's to cure the underlying disease, which is excessive government spending.

The case for a U.S. interest rate cut remains unresolved as Federal Reserve officials head into their policy meeting later this month, with data showing fresh signs of higher inflation and President Donald Trump intensifying his demands for lower borrowing costs.

Trump and his allies say a $2.5 billion renovation of the Fed headquarters and a neighboring building reflects an institution run amok — a belief they hope to verify in an afternoon tour of the construction site.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the consumer price index (CPI), a popular inflation gauge, increased in June to 2.7% on an annual basis as prices rose for consumers.

Rising prices across an array of goods from coffee to audio equipment to home furnishings pulled inflation higher.

Slashing government interest rates could have the paradoxical effect of raising the interest rates paid in the real world.