Donald Trump has said that he won’t remove Jerome Powell from his position as Federal Reserve Board chairman before the end of Powell’s term in May 2026. He also called Powell “a total stiff”, and repeated calls for the Fed interest rate to be lowered.
In an interview on “Meet the Press With Kristen Welker”, which aired on NBC News on Sunday, Trump stated that Powell wasn’t a fan of his, but he still expected the Fed would lower interest rates eventually.
“Well, he should lower them. And at some point, he will. He’d rather not because he’s not a fan of mine. You know, he just doesn’t like me because I think he’s a total stiff,” he said in the interview, which was taped in Florida on Friday.
Trump’s most definitive response to the question of whether he would remove Powell from his position as chair before 2026 was “No, why would I do something like that? I get to replace him in a short time anyway.”
Wall Street stocks plunged sharply in the last month, after Trump intensified his attacks on Powell. This heightened concerns over Powell’s independence and rattled markets. Trump has since backed down a bit after the stock market plunge.
The comments made on Sunday are the clearest sign yet that Trump will keep Powell as his secretary of state. This could calm markets that have been shaken by Trump’s plans to disrupt the global trading system through a wave of tariffs.
Trump announced a 10% tariff for most countries on April 2. He also increased tariffs for a number of trading partners, which were suspended for 90 days. He also imposed tariffs of 25% on steel, aluminum, and autos.
Trump’s administration has been negotiating trade deals with more than 15 countries that could prevent higher tariffs. Officials say the first agreement could be announced in the near future.
During an interview with NBC News, Trump refused to rule out the possibility of making some tariffs permanent. “No, I wouldn’t do that because if somebody thought they were going to come off the table, why would they build in the United States?” he said.
Trump admitted that he was “very tough” with China, effectively cutting off trade between two of the largest economies in the world. But he said Beijing wanted to come to an agreement.
He said, “We have gone cold turkey. That means that we are not losing a trillion dollars… because we don’t do business with them at the moment. Now, they want to make a deal, and they are desperate for that deal. We’ll have to wait and see what happens, but I think it has to be a fair agreement.”