The leader of the United States, Donald Trump, confirmed that he has already decided who will replace the current president of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, whose term ends in May and whom the President has repeatedly criticized.
On Sunday, Trump confirmed on board the presidential plane, during the return to Washington from Florida, that he already has a name in mind.
“I know who I’m going to choose, yes,” said the President, refusing to deny it when a reporter asked if it would be Kevin Hassett, the White House’s chief economic adviser.
Trump said he will announce Powell’s replacement “soon.”
Powell’s term ends in May 2026, after being appointed to head the central bank by Trump himself in 2018 and reappointed to the position by Democratic President Joe Biden.
The Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee is preparing its last meeting of the year, on December 9th.
In October, Powell said another interest rate cut was unlikely, given the lack of consensus within the Fed, fears of a resumption of high inflation and the lack of new data, due to the 40-day government shutdown that ended on November 12.
On November 19, Donald Trump said, for the second time in two days, that he would like to nominate Treasury Department Secretary Scott Bessent as chairman of the United States central bank, known as the Fed.
But Bessent continues to say he does not want the job, Trump added, during a Saudi-American economic forum.
“We’re thinking about him for the Fed, but he doesn’t want to. He likes to be Treasury Secretary,” Trump said.
Two of the five candidates that Bessent himself nominated are current Fed officials, namely Governor Christopher Waller and Governor Michelle Bowman. The others are Kevin Hassett, an economic advisor to Trump, Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor, and Rick Rieder, a director at investment manager BlackRock.
Bessent stated that in mid-December “the President will meet with the three final candidates and we hope to have a decision before Christmas”.
Trump has been very critical of Jerome Powell for not lowering the benchmark interest rate as much as he wanted.
Trump’s choice for his replacement will push for a quick interest rate cut and will likely introduce changes to how the Fed works.
Earlier this year, Bessent offered broad criticism of the Fed’s efforts to protect the economy during the 2008-2009 recession and pandemic.