Trump says he is not planning to fire Fed's Powell [View all]

Source: Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is not planning to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell even as he unleashed a fresh round of criticism against the central bank chief and declined to completely reject the possibility of ousting him.

A Bloomberg report earlier Wednesday that the president is likely to fire Powell soon sparked a drop in stocks and the dollar, and a rise in Treasury yields.

Trump, who criticizes Powell on an almost daily basis for not cutting interest rates, said the report wasn't true, but confirmed he had floated the idea with Republican lawmakers on Tuesday evening, marking the latest chapter in an escalating campaign of pressure by Trump against the independent central bank and its embattled chief.

"I don't rule out anything, but I think it's highly unlikely unless he has to leave for fraud," Trump said, a reference to recent White House and Republican lawmaker criticism of cost overruns in the $2.5 billion renovation of the Fed's historic headquarters in Washington. There has been no indication of fraud, and the Fed has pushed back on that criticism.


Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-indicated-republican-lawmakers-he-will-fire-feds-powell-cbs-reports-2025-07-16/