US President Donald Trump has demanded that the head of the Federal Reserve resign immediately, in a heightening of his criticism of Jerome Powell. Too Late’ should resign right now!!!”, Trump wrote in a message on his Truth Social site.
He also contained a link to a news report on a US federal housing regulator demanding that Mr Powell be probed over his evidence regarding work to renovate the central bank’s Washington headquarters. Trump appointed Mr Powell as Fed chair when he first took office. He has since been repeatedly attacked by him for not reducing interest rates, but it is not clear if the president can sack him from office.
Despite continued attacks on Mr Powell by the president, he said at the start of this year that he had “no intention of firing him”. Trump is demanding that the Federal Reserve cut interest rates to support economic growth. Mr Powell stated on Tuesday that the Fed would have already lowered the rates had it not been for the effect of Trump’s tariff policies.
When questioned at a gathering of central bankers in Portugal if US rates would have been reduced further this year if the administration had not made public its intention to raise tariffs sharply against nations across the globe, Mr Powell said, “I think that’s right.”
The US Federal Reserve refused to comment on Trump’s statement when approached by the BBC. Mr Powell was re-nominated to the role by then-President Joe Biden and his term currently expires in May 2026.
Before Trump’s return to office at the beginning of this year, Mr Powell stated that he would not resign if the president requested him to do so and that it is “not allowed under law” for the White House to push him out.
Members of independent federal agencies such as the Federal Reserve can only be removed before the end of their terms “for cause,” under a landmark US Supreme Court decision from 1935. But Trump has regularly defied convention, including removing some independent regulators, actions that have been challenged in court.
On Wednesday, Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte, who has previously strongly criticised Mr Powell, called for him to be investigated. 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’,” he posted on X.
Last week, Mr Powell said to the Senate that reports of skyrocketing expenses and high-end perks at the Fed headquarters were “misleading and inaccurate in many, many ways.”
