Trump says 'unlikely' to fire Fed's Jerome Powell soon

As tussle between the United States President and the Fed Chair heats up, Donald Trump on Wednesday denied reports claiming that he is planning to fire Jerome Powell soon.

Asked if he ruled out firing Powell, Trump said: "I don't rule out anything but I think it's highly unlikely unless he has to leave for fraud."

Earlier, Bloomberg report that Donald Trump is likely to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell soon, leading to U.S. stock indexes reversing course to fall on Wednesday.


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Following the reports of Jerome Powell being fire, U.S. stock indexes reversed course to fall on Wednesday. At 11:27 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 100.39 points, or 0.23%, to 43,922.90, the S&P 500 lost 16.14 points, or 0.26%, to 6,227.62 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 56.76 points, or 0.27%, to 20,621.04.

Fed Chair vs Trump
The US President has repeatedly expressed frustration over the central bank’s decision to hold interest rates steady, and administration officials have confirmed in recent days that the process to select a successor to Powell — whose term as chair isn’t set to expire until May 2026 — is underway.

Trump has repeatedly criticized Federal Reserve monetary policy in recent months, angry over the central bank's refusal to cut interest rates. Fed officials have resisted cutting rates until there is clarity on whether Trump's tariffs on U.S. trading partners reignite inflation. “I think he’s a total stiff, but the one thing I didn’t see him as is the guy that needed a palace to live in,” Trump said.

Trump has called for Powell to resign, but the president does not have the power to fire him over a monetary policy dispute.

Powell, who was nominated by Trump in late 2017 to lead the Fed and then nominated for a second term by Democratic President Joe Biden four years later, has said he intends to serve out his term as Fed chief, which ends on May 15, 2026.

Last week, the White House intensified its criticism of how the Fed is being run when the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought, sent Powell a letter saying Trump was "extremely troubled" by cost overruns in the $2.5 billion renovation of its historic headquarters in Washington.

Powell responded by asking the U.S. central bank's inspector general to review the project.