President Trump told reporters that he is actively considering replacements for Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, and that he is down to three or four candidates.
“I know within 3 or 4 people who I’m going to pick,” he told reporters adding of Powell “he goes up pretty soon fortunately because I think he’s terrible.” Powell’s term as chair expires in May 2026.
The comments from the president during a press conference in the Netherlands came at the same time as Powell sat before Senate lawmakers about 3,800 miles away in Washington for his second day of regularly scheduled testimony before Congress.
The consideration of Powell successors comes after a period of intensifying pressure from Trump to consider rate cuts as the chairman’s guarded wait-and-see monetary policy stance continues to inflame tensions with the White House.
Trump’s comments on Wednesday didn’t address the question of whether he is looking to fire Powell or announce his final pick quickly in part to undercut Powell’s authority for the remainder of his term.
But it comes after the president offered last week: “Maybe, just maybe, I’ll have to change my mind about firing him?”
The president’s attacks intensified at the end of last week as Trump called for rates to drop from 4.25% to 4.5% to between 1% and 2% and said of Powell and the Fed’s board of governors: “I don’t know why the Board doesn’t override this Total and Complete Moron!”
Trump repeated some of those points in a Tuesday social media post, calling for rates “at least two to three points lower” and saying that Powell “will be in Congress today in order to explain, among other things, why he is refusing to lower the Rate.”
“I hope Congress really works this very dumb, hardheaded person, over. We will be paying for his incompetence for many years to come.”
On Wednesday Trump reiterated his oft-stated case of why Powell should lower rates by at least one percentage point immediately, citing “no inflation.”
He also recounted an earlier face-to-face meeting with Powell, offering a mocking voice for Powell, and repeated his personal attacks by saying “I think he’s a very stupid person actually.”
Powell told Senate lawmakers today that the central bank is “well-positioned to wait” on any interest rate adjustments until it has more clarity on how Trump’s tariffs will affect inflation and the direction of the US economy. He delivered the same message to House lawmakers Tuesday.
Trump is not the only one calling for lower rates. Even some of Powell’s fellow policymakers — Fed governors Michelle Bowman and Chris Waller — have said in recent days that they now see cutting rates as soon as the Fed’s next policy meeting in July due to recent mild inflation readings.
But other officials have pushed back on that urgency and warned that it is too soon to know the true effects of tariffs on inflation.
Some names have already circulated in Washington as possible replacement for Powell. One is former Fed governor Kevin Warsh, considered by many to be a frontrunner for the job. Waller is another current Fed official considered by some central bank watchers as a possible pick.
Bloomberg has reported that the name of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is also now being circulated as a possible replacement for Powell.
Bessent told lawmakers earlier this month he would like to remain in his seat until 2029, but he did not dismiss the possibility of becoming the next chair of the Fed.
Bessent said he has “the best job” in Washington and is “happy to do what President Trump wants me to do,” while noting that “I would like to stay in my seat through 2029” to help carry out the administration’s agenda.
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