Christine Lagarde urged Donald Trump to visit the offices of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, in order to see for himself how difficult the job of her American counterpart, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of the USA, Jerome Powell, is.

And that’s why Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized Jerome Powell.

Speaking on Bloomberg TV, the head of the ECB commented on two of the issues on which the former US president and current candidate throws his shots, defending monetary policymakers on the one hand and the importance of global trade on the other.

Asked about the sensitivity of monetary policy makers to criticism from politicians, but also about the presidential candidate’s view that setting interest rates is an easy task – Lagarde insisted that the reality is different.

“Let him come visit us” he said Tuesday from Washington. “There are thousands of hard workers – economists, lawyers, computer scientists – and I assure you that they all work very hard every day and not just once a month”

Lagarde is in Washington for the International Monetary Fund meetings just two weeks before the US election campaign, which culminates on November 5.

Trump, the Republican nominee, when asked by Bloomberg in the past few days whether he would seek to remove Powell, declined to answer and said the Fed chairman has “the most important job in government. He shows up at the office once a month and says ‘let’s flip a coin’ and everyone talks about him like he’s a god.”

Lagarde emphasized that her own staff is exemplary in supporting policy makers.

“They are extremely conscientious and determined to really do the best job possible to implement the right monetary policy and secure what is our common good, which is our currency,” Lagarde said. “We’re defending the euro and fighting for the euro, just like the Fed is defending the dollar, I’m sure – I don’t want to talk about Jay Powell, but I’m sure that’s how he sees his job.”

Lagarde, who began her political career as France’s trade minister in 2005, has spoken out against Trump’s pro-tariff stance.

“Fair trade is a key to growth, employment, innovation, productivity,” he said. “I would say it’s something we shouldn’t throw away, because every period of time that this country, the United States, has prospered has been a period of trade, not a period of ‘I’m going to retreat behind my borders and play at home.’ No”.

Recall that the Republican candidate has pledged to impose tariffs on goods of 60% to China and up to 20% to everyone else. These measures, if implemented, are expected to cause the biggest trade shock since the Smoot-Hawley Act that deepened the Great Depression of the 1930s.