Fed's Powell is an exemplary central banker, ECB's Villeroy says

PARIS (Reuters) - U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is an exemplary central banker, telling the unflattering truth about the U.S. economy and not bowing to political pressure, European Central Bank (ECB) policymaker Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on Friday.

U.S. President Donald Trump has launched a series of attacks on Powell, accusing him of "playing politics" by not cutting interest rates and said that he looked forward to the day when Powell was gone.

Powell had downplayed the likelihood of interest rate cuts any time soon and said that the Trump administration's tariff plans were likely to raise both inflation and unemployment.

"In everything he does, he shows admirably what a central banker must do," Villeroy said of Powell on French website Boursorama.

"A central banker must tell the truth independently and that is what he did ... I salute his professionalism and courage."

Villeroy also said that Trump's criticism of Powell's stance on interest rates was wrong.

Trump had applauded the ECB for cutting rates faster in the euro zone, which it has been able to do as inflation eases back towards its 2% target.

It cut interest rates for the seventh time in a year on Thursday and warned that economic growth will take a big hit from U.S. tariffs, bolstering bets for even more policy easing in the months ahead.

"This inflation risk seems rather low. It is even quite likely that inflation risks are currently on the downside," said Villeroy, who is also head of the French central bank.

He refused to stake out a position on the possibility of a rate cut at the next ECB meeting in June, saying that "various options were open".

(Reporting by Leigh Thomas and Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and David Goodman)