NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that he never seeks to meet with any U.S. president and to the extent he has had such a meeting, it's because the elected leader sought the interaction.

"I've never asked for a meeting with any president and I never will," Powell said at a press conference following the close of the Fed's policy-setting committee meeting. "There's never a reason for me to ask for a meeting, it's always been the other way."