Donald Trump may already have his next Fed chair picked — and it’s a familiar name

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s term will come to an end in May this year, giving President Donald Trump only a few months before he names a successor. The administration has led an extensive and highly public search for the next Fed Chair. However, as January comes to an end, reports suggest that Trump has already chosen the next Fed Chair. If these reports turn out to be accurate, it will be someone whom the President could have nominated during his first term as well.

The man in question is former Fed official Kevin M. Warsh, as per a report in The New York Times. People who are familiar with the development but not allowed to discuss the matter with the public seem to be the source of this information. Trump recently revealed to reporters that the next Fed Chair would be someone well-known in the financial world, as per a New York Times report. Warsh fits that description perfectly.

Warsh was appointed to the Fed by former President George W. Bush and served as Fed Governor from 2006 to 2011. He also has strong ties to Wall Street and currently works with billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller. The investor is close with the US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is leading the search for the next Fed Chair. Being one of President Trump’s close aides, Bessent's recommendation would certainly go a long way.

Bessent was said to have been looking at 10 candidates at one point, including White House officials like Kevin Hassett. However, he might have landed on his final choice. “A lot of people think that this is somebody that could’ve been there a few years ago,” Trump had added, which could be indicative of Warsh, he was one of the choices alongside Powell when the President chose the last Fed Chair.

For Powell, it will not be a happy farewell. Trump has been pushing the Fed to lower rates ever since he took office for the second time. While rates have gone down to 3.5% to 3.75%, the President wants them reduced further to 1%. However, in the latest Fed meeting, the rates were left untouched. Obviously, the President was not a fan of this, and he lashed out at Powell on social media. This is a new chapter in the war of words between Trump and the man he nominated to the Fed Chair.

“We should have a substantially lower rate now that even this moron admits inflation is no longer a problem or threat,” Trump wrote in his Truth Social post, before adding, “He is costing America Hundreds of Billions of dollars a year in totally unnecessary and uncalled for INTEREST EXPENSE.”

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