President Trump escalated his attacks on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday, even joking that he might appoint himself to lead the central bank.
“Maybe I should go to the Fed,” Trump said during remarks at the White House, just hours before the Federal Reserve was set to announce its latest interest rate decision. “Am I allowed to appoint myself at the Fed? I’d do a much better job than these people.”
With less than a year remaining in Powell’s term, it’s unlikely Trump will seriously attempt to replace him with himself, given the potential backlash from markets and legal barriers. Still, Trump has long expressed frustration with Powell and even floated the idea of removing him from the job, despite the central bank’s independence from the executive branch.
Trump’s campaign reportedly explored ways to give the president more influence over Fed policy decisions, which are typically managed by the Federal Open Market Committee a group of more than a dozen top officials at the bank who vote on interest rate changes.
Powell, appointed by Trump in 2017, has frequently been a target of the president’s ire. Trump has blamed him for being too cautious on rate hikes and cuts, accusing him of undermining his administration’s economic strategy and favoring Democrats. Despite Powell’s Republican credentials and prior service under President George H.W. Bush, Trump suggested Wednesday that he might be more aligned with the other side of the aisle.
“I would have never reappointed him,” Trump said. “Biden reappointed him. I don’t know why that is. But I guess maybe he was a Democrat.”
He also recalled how Powell became Fed chair, saying, “You know, I got great advice from Mnuchin on this one,” referencing former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who had played a key role in recommending Powell.
Throughout his second term, Trump has continued to slam Powell’s stewardship of the economy. He has referred to him as “Mr. Too-Late,” accusing him of responding too slowly to inflation after the pandemic and then being overly cautious with rate cuts after Trump’s return to office.
At the same time, the Fed has shown reluctance to lower rates this year, citing global uncertainty and concerns about Trump’s tariff policies. Although officials began 2025 anticipating gradual rate cuts as inflation eased toward the Fed’s 2 percent goal, that trajectory has been put on hold.
“The labor market is solid, inflation is low. We can afford to be patient as things unfold,” Powell said last month after holding rates steady. “There’s a great deal of uncertainty about where tariff policies are going to settle out and also, when they do, what will be the implications for the economy, for growth and for employment.”