It is becoming increasingly clear that President Donald Trump has no plans to drop his pressure campaign on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell over interest rate cuts.
An excerpt from “Trillion Dollar Triage” by Wall Street Journal economic correspondent Nick Timiraos chronicles Powell’s measured public responses – and more candid private reactions – to Trump’s ongoing threats to fire him.
HOPEFULS EYEING POWELL’S JOB INTENSIFY PUSH AMID TRUMP RIFT
Powell’s commitment to the Fed, amid Trump’s mounting criticism, became apparent in 2019 during a House Committee on Financial Services hearing. California Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters, who chaired the committee, asked Powell what he would do if Trump fired him.
“Mr. Chairman, if you got a call from the president today or tomorrow, and he said, ‘I’m firing you. Pack up, it’s time to go,’ what would you do?”
Powell responded, “Well, of course I would not do that.”
“I can’t hear you,” Waters said with an upward inflection in her tone, prompting laughter from the room – and even from Powell.
“My answer would be ‘no,’” he said.
“And you would not pack up and you would not leave?” Waters reiterated.
“No, ma’am,” he responded.
“Because you think the president does not have the authority? Is that why you would not leave?” she asked.
“What I’ve said is that the law clearly gives me a four-year term, and I fully intend to serve it,” Powell said.
According to Timiraos, in private, Powell was more forthright about his determination to continue leading the world’s most influential central bank.
“I will never, ever, ever leave this job voluntarily until my term ends under any circumstances. None, whatsoever,” Powell said. “You will not see me getting in the lifeboat,” he said, invoking a metaphor to signal his resolve to stay the course.
“It doesn’t occur to me in the slightest that there would be any situation in which I would not complete my term other than dying,” Powell said, according to Timiraos.
TRUMP’S POTENTIAL SHORTLIST FOR THE FED CHAIR IS TAKING SHAPE
Tensions between Powell and Trump have largely deteriorated over the central bank’s interest rate decisions and broader monetary policies. Trump has instructed the Fed to cut rates, which he says could save the nation “hundreds of billions of dollars.”
Powell has maintained the central bank’s key borrowing rate within a range of 4.25% to 4.5%, adopting a wait-and-see monetary policy aimed at assessing the impact of Trump’s tariff blitz.
So far this month, Trump has announced plans to impose a 30% tariff on imports from Mexico and all 27 countries that make up the European Union.
Those tariffs come on the heels of a 50% levy on copper imports and products from Brazil, a 35% tariff on Canadian goods and other tariffs imposed on more than 20 countries. The announced tariffs are slated to take effect on Aug. 1.
TRUMP URGES RATE CUTS TO BOOST SAVINGS, BUT FED SAYS ECONOMY IS STRONG
Trump has also criticized Powell for renovation cost overruns at the Federal Reserve headquarters in D.C.’s Foggy Bottom neighborhood.
Powell told lawmakers last month that the cost overruns are due to unexpected construction challenges and the nation’s inflation rate.
“There’s no new marble,” Powell told members of the Senate Banking Committee. “There’s no special elevators. They’re old elevators that have been there. There are no new water features. There’s no beehives and there’s no roof garden terraces.”
The Fed, not taxpayers, are funding the renovation, which is expected to cost approximately $2.5 billion.
