President Donald Trump said Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s termination from his position can’t come quickly enough, arguing that the U.S. central bank should have lowered interest rates already this year, and in any case should do so now.
Trump, derisively nicknaming the Fed chairman he nominated in his first term as “Too Late,” wrote in a post on the Truth Social platform Thursday morning that “Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!”
It was not immediately clear if the post meant Trump was referring to the scheduled end of Powell’s term, or if Trump was seeking to remove Powell as chair. The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. A Fed spokesperson declined to comment.
Powell’s term as chair runs into May 2026, while his term as a governor lasts until February 2028. Trump’s comments come a day after Powell, speaking in Chicago, reiterated that the Fed isn’t in a rush to cut rates and instead is awaiting greater clarity on the economy.
The president’s ability to remove top officials at agencies that had long been viewed as having a measure of independence from the White House has come into acute focus in recent months, after the administration dismissed senior officials at the Federal Trade Commission, the National Labor Relations Board and Merit Systems Protection Board.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer condemned the president’s comments, posting on X that “an independent Fed is vital for a healthy economy— something that Trump has proved is not a priority for him.”
Powell’s take
The firings are the most direct challenge yet to a 1935 Supreme Court decision that paved the way for agency independence. Powell made reference Wednesday to a current Supreme Court case with regard to the removal of the NLRB and MSPB officials.
“There’s a Supreme Court case. People will have read probably” about it, Powell said in answering questions at the Economic Club of Chicago. “That’s a case that people are talking about a lot. I don’t think that decision will apply to the Fed — but I don’t know,” he said. “It’s a situation that we’re monitoring carefully.”
Powell also reiterated his argument that “our independence is a matter of law,” and that the Fed’s statute shows that there’s “not removal except for cause.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent earlier this week indicated that the administration’s timeline for considering Powell’s successor was roughly six months away. Speaking in a Bloomberg Television interview, Bessent said that the timing for interviewing candidates to replace Powell was “sometime in the fall.”
ECB comparison
Bessent also said that Fed independence in deciding on monetary policy was a “jewel box that has got to be preserved.”
The latest broadside from Trump on the Fed recalls criticism he heaped on Powell during the president’s first term, and may revive the debate in Washington about the central bank’s independence from the White House. Trump’s moves to ramp up tariffs on the rest of the world have raised concern about slowing domestic growth and price increases, making the Fed’s policymaking all the more challenging.
Trump’s remarks came just before the European Central Bank lowered their deposit rate by a quarter point to 2.25%. Trump mentioned the ECB’s repeated cuts in his post.
“And yet, ‘Too Late’ Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete ‘mess!’ Trump wrote.
He added that oil and grocery prices are down, and that the U.S. is “getting RICH” on tariffs.
While crude oil is down well over 10% so far this year, food prices have been climbing. Groceries are up 2.4% over the past 12 months.
In his speech at the Economic Club of Chicago, Powell also reiterated that the Fed must ensure tariffs don’t trigger a more persistent rise in inflation.
“Our obligation is to keep longer-term inflation expectations well anchored and to make certain that a one-time increase in the price level does not become an ongoing inflation problem,” Powell said.
U.S. stocks extended losses following Powell’s remarks, though futures were up Thursday morning.
