(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump cheered U.S. economic performance on Friday after the Commerce Department announced it had expanded more than expected in the first quarter of the year.

“Far higher than the high expectations,” Trump said just before boarding Air Force One to travel to an event in Indianapolis. “Inflation numbers are very low,” the president said, a sign he will continue to urge the Federal Reserve to maintain low interest rates.

Continued U.S. economic growth is main pillar of Trump’s pitch to voters that he be re-elected in 2020. He regularly claims he doesn’t get enough credit for the growth.

Trump in March turned up pressure on the Federal Reserve, saying that if the central bank hadn’t raised interest rates, the U.S. gross domestic product would be higher.

“Had the Fed not mistakenly raised interest rates, especially since there is very little inflation, and had they not done the ridiculously timed quantitative tightening, the 3.0% GDP, & Stock Market, would have both been much higher & World Markets would be in a better place!” the president said in the tweet.

The president’s comment was a shot at Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, whom Trump has repeatedly rebuked since the Fed raised borrowing costs four times last year. Trump even discussed firing Powell, Bloomberg News reported on Dec. 21.

Trump’s criticism -- in interviews and on Twitter -- disregarded long-standing White House practice of avoiding public comment on monetary policy out of respect for the Fed’s independence, which is an article of faith among investors who purchase U.S. Treasuries.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alyza Sebenius in Washington at asebenius@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Joshua Gallu, Justin Blum

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.