I know who I am going to pick, says Trump on his choice of next Fed chair

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By María Paula Mijares Torres and Josh Wingrove

 

President Donald Trump said Sunday he has decided on his pick for the next Federal Reserve chair after making clear he expects his nominee to deliver interest-rate cuts.  

“I know who I am going to pick, yeah,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on his way back to Washington, without naming his choice. “We’ll be announcing it.”

 

Trump has frequently excoriated current Fed chief Jerome Powell for failing to lower rates swiftly and signalled he wants a chair who will more forcefully pursue cuts. People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News last week that White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, Trump’s chief economic adviser, is seen as the likely choice to succeed Powell. 

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Hassett, speaking on CBS’ Face the Nation earlier Sunday, declined to address whether he considers himself the frontrunner to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell and called the report a “rumor.” However, he cited positive market reaction to the news that Trump is seen as close to naming his pick — a subtle counter to concerns that investors will see him as too close to the president. 

“We had a great Treasury auction, interest rates went down and I think that the American people could expect President Trump to pick somebody who’s going to help them have cheaper car loans and easier access to mortgages at lower rate,” Hassett said on CBS. “That’s what we saw in the market response to the rumor about me.”   

 

Trump trusts Hassett and views him as aligned on the desire to push for more aggressive interest-rate cuts at the central bank, people familiar with the matter have said. Hassett has said he’d accept the role if asked, though analysts warn he may struggle to unite the Fed’s rate-setting committee and could be more vulnerable to Trump’s pressure. His emphasis of the market reaction was a de facto rebuttal to those concerns.

 

Though Trump is known for last-minute changes, the prospect of Hassett being nominated for the position briefly pushed the 10-year Treasury yield below 4 per cent. 

 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has overseen the selection process, said last week Trump could announce his nominee before the Dec. 25 Christmas holiday. 

 

Alongside Hassett, other finalists include Fed governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, former Fed governor Kevin Warsh and BlackRock’s Rick Rieder. Trump also regularly says he’d like Bessent as chair, a notion Bessent has repeatedly rejected. 

 

Whoever Trump picks will require Senate confirmation as chair and likely to a 14-year Fed governor term that begins in February if the selection is an outsider. Powell’s term as chair ends in May.