Trump Says He Does Not Have Plans to Replace Jerome Powell as Fed Chair

• Dec. 8, 2024, 10:26 a.m. ET

President-elect Donald J. Trump said he has no plans to fire the chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome H. Powell, addressing an uncertainty that has been hanging over the politically independent central bank.

Mr. Trump said over the summer that he did not plan to fire Mr. Powell, but made that comment somewhat conditional on Mr. Powell doing “the right thing” — presumably lowering interest rates. He was more definitive in a new interview with NBC, airing Sunday morning.

“No, I don’t think so. I don’t see it,” Trump said when asked if he would remove Mr. Powell, whose term as chair expires in May 2026. “I think if I told him to, he would. But if I asked him to, he probably wouldn’t. But if I told him to, he would.”

Mr. Powell has said that he does not think that the president has the legal authority to remove him — a position many lawyers agree with, although the idea has never been tested in courts. Mr. Powell has also said that he would not leave the position if asked.

Fed officials are insulated from the White House, giving them a level of independence meant to allow them the freedom to make hard short-term decisions — like keeping interest rates high — that are good for the longer-term health of the economy.

Mr. Trump originally elevated Mr. Powell to the role of Fed chair in 2017, but quickly soured on his pick: He wanted Mr. Powell’s Fed to lower rates more quickly.

He flirted with firing or demoting the Fed chair, but found that doing so would be legally difficult, if not impossible. He settled for blasting the central bank and its leader on social media and in public remarks, calling Mr. Powell an “enemy” and Fed officials “boneheads.”

President Biden chose in 2021 to renominate Mr. Powell, who is now serving out a four-year leadership term that began the next year.