Trump considering several replacements for Jerome Powell
President Donald Trump revealed he's already vetting candidates to replace Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, while once again blasting the central banker and calling him 'stupid' for failing to bring down a key interest rate. 'I think he's terrible,' Trump interjected when a reporter asked him during his press conference at The Hague for NATO meetings whether he was considering replacements for the Fed chair.
Trump disclosed that he was – after speaking openly about getting rid of Powell, despite uncertainty over whether he has the authority to fire the head of the independent Fed. 'I know within three or four people who are going to pick. I mean, he goes out pretty soon, fortunately, because I think he's terrible,' Trump said – indicating resignation to Powell serving out his term.
Powell's term ends in May 2026. Trump renominated the Princeton grad and Georgetown-trained lawyer in 2017. But as he seeks votes for his 'big, beautiful bill' amid estimates it would tack $3 trililon onto the nation's accumulated debt, Trump has been venting about interest rates and the vast sums the nation must pay to service that debt.
'We have no inflation ,' Trump said, amid low inflation of more than 2 percent. 'We have a tremendous economy. Hundreds of billions of dollars of tariff money is pouring in. Factories are being built because they don't want to pay the tariffs ...' he continued. 'There's never been anything like that in the history of our country.
The he blamed President Joe Biden for borrowing, before going after Powell in more personal terms. 'So we are going to end up paying maybe two points or three points more. Three points would be about $900 billion a year because of this very average mentally person,' he fumed.
'He is an average mentally person, let's say low, in terms of what he does. Low, low IQ for what he does. Okay, great. So instead, instead of paying $900 billion – we don't want to pay 900 – just because he doesn't want to lower the rate. I said, if there's inflation in two years or three years or one year from now, you raise the rate, you take care of the inflation, among other things.'
'But he's probably a very political guy, I guess I don't know. I think he's a very stupid person, actually,' Trump concluded. Powell hit back at Trump in congressional testimony Tuesday – when he said the very tariffs Trump touted are the reason he hasn't been able to lower rates.
The tariffs have roiled the markets, causing equities to plummet when Trump imposes them, and rise when he pauses them, with the uncertainty leaving some business in a bind as they consider whether to purchase new inventory or not amid the chaos. 'Increases in tariffs this year are likely to push up prices and weigh on economic activity,' Powell told members of the House Financial Services Committee.
'For the time being, we are well-positioned to wait to learn more about the likely course of the economy before considering any adjustments to our policy stance,' the Fed chair testified. Trump had tried to organize an ambush by his GOP allies when he said 'I hope Congress really works this very dumb, hardheaded person, over. We will be paying for his incompetence for many years to come.'
Trump didn't name any of the people he was pondering for the powerful post. But his ability to install a loyalist who might hew to his demands is more limited after the Supreme Court acknowledged the Fed's unique independent status in a ruling last month. Trump's attacks on Powell, which have become commonplace, were barely noticed in a press conference where he attacked correspondents for CNN and NBC, said Iran's nuclear facilities had been 'obliterated,' and vowed to hit at US ally Spain in trade negotiations to punish it for resisting NATO's new 5 percent military spending target.
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