US treasury secretary says Trump may appoint new Fed chair around October
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says President Donald Trump may appoint Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's successor in October or November.
Trump indicated he will soon announce his choice to succeed Powell, whose term ends in May of next year.
Bessent's remark came in an interview with US business channel CNBC on Friday.
The president nominates the chair of the Federal Reserve from among the seven members of its Board of Governors. The term of one of them ends in January of next year.
Bessent indicated Trump's nomination of the new chair may come in October or November, taking into consideration the time needed to obtain congressional approval if Trump is to appoint the nominee to the outgoing board member's seat.
When asked about himself being a candidate, Bessent said, "I'll do what the president wants, but I think I have the best job in Washington."
Bessent criticized the Fed's monetary policy, saying, "The Federal Reserve fell down on the American people in 2022, let the great inflation get away from them. They should have been hiking sooner."
He indicated the Fed may once again make a mistake by delaying rate cuts, saying, "Studies have shown that people who fall down then tend to look at their feet, which makes them fall down more."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Today
2 hours ago
- Japan Today
U.S. inflation edges up as Trump renews criticism of Fed chief
The Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge rose 2.3 percent in May, but consumer spending pulled back in part due to autos By Beiyi SEOW The U.S. Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure logged a mild uptick Friday while spending weakened, triggering another tirade by President Donald Trump against the central bank chair for not cutting interest rates sooner. "We have a guy that's just a stubborn mule and a stupid person," Trump told an event at the White House, referring to Fed Chair Jerome Powell. "He's making a mistake." With Powell's term as Fed chief coming to an end next year, Trump hinted at his choice of successor: "I'm going to put somebody that wants to cut rates." The president's remarks came after government data showed the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index climbing 2.3 percent last month from a year ago in May. This was in line with analyst expectations and a slight acceleration from April's 2.2 percent increase, but still a relatively mild uptick. Excluding the volatile food and energy sectors, the PCE price index was up 2.7 percent, rising from April's 2.6 percent uptick, the Commerce Department's report showed. But consumer spending declined, after Trump's fresh tariffs in April dragged on consumer sentiment. PCE dropped by 0.1 percent from the preceding month, reversing an earlier rise. While Trump has imposed sweeping tariffs on most U.S. trading partners since returning to the White House in January -- alongside higher rates on imports of steel, aluminum and autos -- these have had a muted effect so far on inflation. This is in part because he held off or postponed some of his harshest salvos, while businesses are still running through inventory they stockpiled in anticipation of the levies. But central bank officials have not rushed to slash interest rates, saying they can afford to wait and learn more about the impact of Trump's recent duties. They expect to learn more about the tariffs' effects over the summer. "The experience of the limited range of tariffs introduced in 2018 suggests that pass-through to consumer prices is intense three-to-six months after their implementation," warned economists Samuel Tombs and Oliver Allen of Pantheon Macroeconomics in a note. They flagged weakness in consumer spending, in part due to a pullback in autos after buyers rushed to get ahead of levies. And spending on services was tepid even after excluding volatile components, they said. "There has also been a clear weakening in discretionary services spending, notably in travel and hospitality," said Michael Pearce, deputy chief US economist at Oxford Economics, in a note. This reflects "the chilling effect of the plunge in consumer sentiment," he added. Between April and May, the PCE price index was up 0.1 percent, the Commerce Department report showed. As a July deadline approaches for higher tariff rates to kick in on dozens of economies, all eyes are also on whether countries can reach lasting trade deals with Washington to ease the effects of tariffs. For now, despite the slowing in economic growth, Pearce said risks that inflation could increase will keep the Fed on hold with interest rates "until much later in the year." © 2025 AFP
Japan Today
2 hours ago
- Japan Today
G7 agrees to avoid higher taxes for U.S. and UK companies
FILE PHOTO: A man walk past the G7 members flags at the Manoir Richelieu before the G7 Foreign Ministers summit in La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada March 12, 2025. REUTERS/Mathieu Belanger/File Photo By Harshita Meenaktshi, Bipasha Dey and Promit Mukherjee The United States and the Group of Seven nations have agreed to support a proposal that would exempt U.S. companies from some components of an existing global agreement, the G7 said in a statement on Saturday. The group has created a 'side-by-side' system in response to the U.S. administration agreeing to scrap the Section 899 retaliatory tax proposal from President Donald Trump's tax and spending bill, it said in a statement from Canada, the head of the rolling G7 presidency. The G7 said the plan recognizes existing U.S. minimum tax laws and aims to bring more stability to the international tax system. UK businesses are also spared higher taxes after the removal of Section 899 from President Donald Trump's tax and spending bill. Britain said businesses would benefit from greater certainty and stability following the agreement. Some British businesses had in recent weeks said they were worried about paying substantial additional tax due to the inclusion of Section 899, which has now been removed. "Today's agreement provides much-needed certainty and stability for those businesses after they had raised their concerns," finance minister Rachel Reeves said in a statement, adding that more work was need to tackle aggressive tax planning and avoidance. G7 officials said that they look forward to discussing a solution that is "acceptable and implementable to all". In January, through an executive order, Trump declared that the global corporate minimum tax deal was not applicable in the U.S., effectively pulling out of the landmark 2021 arrangement negotiated by the Biden administration with nearly 140 countries. He had also vowed to impose a retaliatory tax against countries that impose taxes on U.S. firms under the 2021 global tax agreement. This tax was considered detrimental to many foreign companies operating in the U.S. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
Nikkei Asia
4 hours ago
- Nikkei Asia
US multinationals on track for minimum tax reprieve after G7 deal
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the changes to the OECD deal would save American companies $100 billion in tax over the next decade. © Reuters COPENHAGEN/WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS/TORONTO (Financial Times) -- The world's leading economies have agreed a deal to spare the U.S.'s largest companies from paying more corporate tax overseas, throwing into doubt the status of the biggest global tax deal in over a century. The agreement between Washington and other members of the G7 group of leading countries could fundamentally alter a landmark 2021 accord to set up a global minimum tax to crack down on avoidance by multinationals.
