President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he will fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell if Powell refuses to vacate his position after a Senate-confirmed successor takes office.
“If he stays, he’s fired,” Trump told reporters. “It’s very simple.”
Trump’s chairman term ends in May 2026. Trump has been nominating a replacement and has made no secret of his desire to see Powell gone. The vow to fire him if he lingers marks a sharper escalation in a feud that has simmered for years over the Fed’s refusal to cut interest rates at the pace Trump demanded.
Powell’s position has grown increasingly untenable. Trump has attacked him repeatedly on social media, calling him “too slow” and “a disaster” for keeping borrowing costs elevated during a period when the administration was pushing for economic acceleration. Powell, for his part, has insisted the Fed operates independently of political pressure and would continue cutting rates only when inflation data supported doing so.
The legal question of whether a president can fire a sitting Fed chairman is unsettled. The Supreme Court has never ruled on it directly. A 1935 decision, Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, held that Congress could limit presidential removal power over certain independent agency officials, but the current Court has chipped away at that precedent in recent rulings expanding executive authority.
Markets reacted with anxiety to Trump’s comments. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 400 points Wednesday afternoon, with investors concerned that White House pressure on the central bank could destabilize monetary policy during a period of lingering inflation.
Trump dismissed the market reaction. “The markets will love it when we have a real Fed chairman,” he said. “One who actually cuts rates when the economy needs them cut.”
