President Donald Trump said he would announce his nominee to chair the Federal Reserve “next week,” and reiterated his expectation that the central bank’s new leader will lower interest rates.
“We’re going to be announcing next week,” Trump said Thursday during a Cabinet meeting at the White House. “We’re going to be announcing the head of the Fed, who that will be, and it will be a person that will, I think, do a good job.”
The Fed kept borrowing costs on hold Wednesday, a decision that rankled Trump. The president and his allies have waged a months-long pressure campaign on the central bank and its current chair, Jerome Powell, including with a Justice Department investigation into the Fed’s headquarters renovation. The effort has drawn criticism that Trump is undercutting the institution’s ability to independently set rates without political pressure.
“We’re paying far too much interest in the Fed,” Trump said Thursday. “We should have the lowest interest rate anywhere in the world. They should be two points and even three points lower.”
Trump is said to be considering four candidates on his shortlist: National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, Fed Governor Christopher Waller, former governor Kevin Warsh and BlackRock Inc. executive Rick Rieder. The selection process is being overseen by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Whomever Trump chooses could face a rocky path to confirmation in the US Senate. Republican Senator Thom Tillis, a member of the Banking Committee, has vowed to block any of the president’s Fed nominees until the Justice Department probe into the central bank is resolved.
The Fed’s decision Wednesday to leave rates unchanged followed three straight reductions in the final months of 2025. In a statement, officials pointed to “signs of stabilization” in the labor market and still-elevated inflation as factors leading to the pause.
Powell, in a press conference afterward, declined to comment on the Justice Department investigation. He also said he didn’t believe the central bank would lose its independence, and offered some advice for his successor.
“Don’t get pulled into elected politics. Don’t do it,” he said.
