United States President Donald Trump has hinted at firing Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell amid the president’s frustration that the central bank will not aggressively cut interest rates.
On Thursday, Trump said that Powell’s “termination cannot come fast enough”.
Powell’s term does not expire until May 2026. The president does not have the authority to remove Powell from the central bank.
Trump’s attacks on Powell come after the Fed chair’s speech at the Economic Club of Chicago on Wednesday. Powell said the Fed would base its decisions solely on what is best for all Americans.
“That’s the only thing we’re ever going to do,” Powell said. “We’re never going to be influenced by any political pressure. People can say whatever they want. That’s fine, that’s not a problem. But we will do what we do strictly without consideration of political or any other extraneous factors.
“Our independence is a matter of law,” Powell continued. “We’re not removable except for cause. We serve very long terms, seemingly endless terms.”
The Republican president’s broadside comes a day after Powell signalled that the Fed would keep its key interest rate unchanged, while it seeks “greater clarity” on the effect of policy changes in areas such as immigration, taxation, regulation and tariffs.
Powell also reiterated that Trump’s tariffs would likely raise inflation and slow the economy, which could make it harder for the Fed to cut rates anytime soon. The Fed chair suggested that the central bank would focus on fighting inflation in the wake of the tariffs, even if the duties did weaken the economy. Powell’s comments contributed to a drop in stock prices on Wednesday.
Trump pushes back
Pushing back on Powell, Trump in a social media post said, “Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS.”
On the contrary, oil prices have risen 2 percent in the last two weeks. Grocery prices have actually increased under Trump, according to the most recent consumer price index report in April, and egg prices hit record highs last month as per the same report. Last week, the president falsely claimed the US brought in $2bn a day thanks to tariffs – it was $200m a day.
Referring to the European Central Bank (ECB), Trump added that Powell “should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!”
The ECB on Thursday lowered its key interest rate from 2.5 percent to 2.25 percent.
Powell was initially nominated by Trump in 2017 and was appointed to another four-year term by former President Joe Biden in 2022. At a November news conference, Powell indicated he would not step down if Trump asked him to resign, pointing out that removal or demotion of top Fed officials was “not permitted under the law”.
Trump’s comments come with the backdrop of a legal case at the Supreme Court that could determine whether presidents can fire the heads of independent agencies such as the Fed.
The case stems from Trump’s firings of officials from two independent agencies. The Supreme Court last week let the firings stand while it considers the case. It could issue a broader ruling this summer that would enable the president to fire Fed officials, including the chair.
Powell said the Fed is watching the case closely, adding it might not apply to the Fed. Lawyers for the Trump administration have argued that allowing the president to fire the two officials wouldn’t erode the Fed’s independence.
“It is difficult to overstate the consequences at this stressed moment of a Court ruling that found that President Trump … does have the authority to dismiss the heads of independent agencies and did not establish a clear carve-out for the Fed,” Krishna Guha, an analyst at investment bank Evercore ISI, wrote on Thursday. “If you liked the tariff debacle in markets, you’d love the loss-of-Fed-independence trade.”
Tariff mayhem
Powell started Trump’s second term in a relatively secure spot with a low unemployment rate and inflation progressing closer to the Fed’s 2 percent target, conditions that could have spared the US central banker from the president’s vitriol.
But Trump’s aggressive and haphazard tariffs have raised the threat of a recession with both higher inflationary pressures and slower growth, a tough spot for Powell, whose mandate is to stabilise prices and maximise employment. With the economy weakening because of Trump’s choices, the president appears to be looking to pin the blame on Powell.
Trump has unleashed a rash of tariffs that have put the US economy and the Fed in an increasingly perilous spot.
On April 2, the president rolled out aggressive tariff hikes based on US trade deficits with other nations, causing a financial market backlash that almost immediately led him to announce a 90-day pause in which most countries would be charged a baseline 10 percent tariff while negotiations go forward. But Trump increased his tariff hikes on China to a rate of 145 percent in addition to his existing tariffs on Canada, Mexico, autos and steel and aluminium.
Wall Street banks such as Goldman Sachs have raised their odds that a recession could start. Consumers are increasingly pessimistic in surveys about their job prospects and fearful that inflation would shoot up as the cost of the import taxes get passed along to them. The risk of stagflation – stagnant growth and high inflation – would make it harder for the Fed to respond with the same playbook as recent downturns.
