Trump Considers Powell's Replacement, Dollar Immediately Weakens!
United States President Donald Trump said he has prepared three to four candidate names to replace Jerome Powell as Chairman of the Federal Reserve (The Fed). He made the statement at a press conference in The Hague, Wednesday (local time), on the sidelines of the NATO Summit. Although Powell's term of office will only end in May 2026, Trump said Powell's replacement would be announced earlier. "He'll be out soon, get together, because I think he's terrible," Trump said.
Trump has not revealed who the candidates are. However, a Wall Street Journal report mentioned the name of Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor, on the radar. Several Trump allies have even proposed the name of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, although internal sources said the proposal had been issued. Trump also continues to criticize Powell's policies, especially because the Fed has not lowered interest rates as he wanted.
Trump considers the current interest rate which is in the range of 4.25%–4.5%—to be too high and burdensome for the government. He even openly called Powell a "very stupid person" for maintaining the policy. Trump has claimed that interest rates should be cut by 2.5 points, while the Fed itself has only hinted at a possible half-point cut by the end of 2025.
The market reaction was quite swift. The US dollar immediately weakened against all major currencies in early Asian trading on Thursday morning, with the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index down 0.2%. Uncertainty about the direction of the Fed's policy and increasing political pressure from Trump have fueled investor concerns about the stability of US monetary policy amid global tariff tensions and the president's changing economic agenda.
Source: (ayu-Newsmaker)
