Who’s on Trump’s short list to replace Powell as US Fed chairman?

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump’s short list of candidates to succeed Mr Jerome Powell as chairman of the Federal Reserve now includes his aide Kevin Hassett, former Fed governor Kevin Warsh and current Fed governor Christopher Waller.

Mr Trump told reporters at the White House that the three men were the finalists for appointments to the Fed, adding he would consider Mr Scott Bessent, too, but that the Treasury secretary was not interested.

Mr Bessent, who was with the President in the Oval Office, confirmed his lack of interest.

“I had four,” Mr Trump said. “Now I’m talking about three. He (Bessent) told me: ‘I’m not leaving’.”

The President has made clear he intends to install a Fed leader more aligned with his push for

rapid interest-rate cuts

, browbeating Mr Powell for being “too late” to act on borrowing costs and for

hurting home buyers

with higher mortgage rates.

Mr Powell’s Fed has kept rates on hold all year on concern that Mr Trump’s tariffs could reignite inflation, although recently his concerns have shifted to centre more on the slowing labour market.

The choice of a Fed chair will carry high stakes for financial markets, which closely watch Fed leadership changes for clues about the direction of interest rates, inflation policy and the central bank’s independence.

US job growth weakened sharply in August and the unemployment rate increased to nearly a four-year high of 4.3 per cent, the Labour Department said on Sept 5, confirming that labour market conditions were softening.

Mr Powell in August noted downside risks to the labour market that “may warrant” a careful policy adjustment, remarks that financial markets and analysts took to mean he would likely support a quarter-point interest-rate cut in September.

That is far short of the several percentage points of cuts that Mr Trump has demanded.

Mr Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council, has been a reliable advocate for Mr Trump’s tariffs and other policies, and agrees with Mr Trump that the Fed has kept rates inappropriately high.

Mr Warsh has repeatedly called for “regime change” at the Fed.

Mr Waller, who ran the St Louis Fed’s research department before Mr Trump picked him to be Fed governor in 2020, would be an institutionalist pick.

Mr Bessent released a barrage of criticism against the Fed on Sept 5 and called for a full review of the central bank’s operations, from staffing to research to monetary policy. REUTERS