Trump hints at the possibility of firing the Chairman of the Federal Reserve

US President Donald Trump has hinted that there is a specific candidate he prefers to head the US Federal Reserve, but he is not in a rush to announce it. He also indicated the possibility of dismissing the current Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell.

Bloomberg News Agency quoted Trump as saying in a press conference in response to a question about whether he had a preferred candidate: “I still have a preferred candidate, and my opinion has not changed. I will announce it at the appropriate time. There is still time.”

Trump added that Powell “should resign” and that he “very much wants to be fired.” The president had sought to dismiss Powell last July, but backed down after negative reactions in the financial markets.

“I might do that,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida, resort about the possibility of firing Powell.

Trump did not identify his most prominent candidate to head the central bank, and said that he would announce that “sometime in January.”

Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, is considered the front-runner, although Trump has also expressed interest in Kevin Warsh, a former member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

Other finalists include current Federal Reserve governors Christopher Waller and Michael Bowman, and Rick Reeder of BlackRock.

Earlier, US Treasury Secretary Scott Besent said that there is room to reconsider the Federal Reserve’s inflation target of 2% in the future.

Trump has made numerous ambiguous, and sometimes contradictory, statements about the decision-making process regarding the new central bank head.

The president said earlier this month that he had narrowed the number of candidates to one, but later said he was considering several candidates, and praised many of the names on the shortlist.