Jerome Powell is a lifelong politico, first entering government service during the George H.W. Bush administration in 1990.
He was appointed as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors by then-Presisdent Barack Obama in 2012, then elevated to chairman by Donald Trump in 2018, an appointment which was renewed in 2022 by Joe Biden, with his term due to end in February 2026.
Now, Trump is calling for the man he originally tapped for the key role to resign immediately amid frustrations over Powell’s refusal to drop federal rates.
Trump has been pressuring the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates since he took his oath of office for the second time, but Powell has been very cautious about doing so.
In addition to applying pressure via media interviews, Trump recently took to Truth Social to say the entire board “should be ashamed of themselves,” adding, “They have one of the easiest, yet most prestigious, jobs in America, and they have FAILED -- And continue to do so.”
Trump also shared a handwritten note he says he sent to Powell, which read, “Jerome -- You are, as usual, ‘too late.’ You have cost the USA A fortune -- and continue to do so -- you should lower the rate -- by a lot!
“Hundreds of billions of dollars being lost! No inflation.”
Powell wants to see what impact Trump’s tariffs will have on the economy before deciding to lower or raise rates again.
During a recent conference, Powell was asked about the impact of the tariffs on his decision, and he responded, “In effect, we went on hold when we saw the size of the tariffs, and essentially all inflation forecasts for the United States went up materially as a consequence of the tariffs. We didn’t overreact. In fact, we didn’t react at all; we’re simply taking some time.”
He did offer some hope for the near future, later adding, “As long as the U.S. economy is in solid shape, the prudent thing to do is to wait and learn more and see what the effect might be. We haven’t seen effects much from tariffs, and we didn’t expect to by now."
Powell added, "We have always said the timing, amount and persistence would be highly uncertain.”
Trump knows that any effort to remove Powell forcibly would be litigated, and it is unlikely that the case would conclude before the end of Powell’s current term, so the president has just continued to apply pressure to get Powell to resign so he can get someone in that position who will do what he wants.
This week, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) called for an investigation into alleged “deceptive” testimony given by Powell before Congress, with FHFA Director Bill Pulte posting, "I am asking Congress to investigate Chairman Jerome Powell, his political bias, and his deceptive Senate testimony, which is enough to be removed ‘for cause.’"
Trump replied, “‘Too Late’ should resign immediately!!!"
Powell has been adamant that he is not going anywhere, and if Trump decides to have him forcibly removed from this post, he will fight it, so I would imagine that the chairman will just dig in deeper. Whether Trump likes it or not, he is stuck with Powell for another six months.