White House Economic Adviser Kevin Haysit said that President Donald Trump and his team continue to study the possibility of the dismissal of Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve (the US Central Bank), indicating that such a step is still on the ground, which is a matter of great consequences for the bank’s independence and global markets.
“The president and his team will continue to study this issue,” Haysit added, in response to a press question whether Powell’s dismissal was at the present time an option that was not before.
Hasit’s statement came a day after Trump escalated an old dispute with the first accused of acting for “political purposes” by not lowering interest rates. Trump confirmed that he has the power of Powell’s dismissal from his position “very fast.”
Trump increased his criticism of Powell yesterday, and told reporters during an event in the Oval Office, “If we had a president of the Federal Reserve, he would understand what he was doing, the interest rates would have decreased. He must lower them.”
On Thursday, Trump said he was waiting for Powell to leave his position “impatiently”, and called on the central bank to reduce interest rates.
In a post on his social networking platform (Truth Social), Trump stressed his position on reducing borrowing costs, saying, “Powell should have reduced interest rates, such as (the European Central Bank), for a long time, but he must definitely reduce them now.”
Trump stated in his post that Powell “is always late and wrong”, and criticized the comments made by Powell last Wednesday, describing it as “another complete and usual chaos!”
The standard interest rate of the Federal Reserve is currently in a range between 4.25% and 4.50%, which is the same level since December after several discounts in interest rates late last year.
Trump threatened to try to dismiss Powell, as he does with members of other independent political bodies in a move currently before the US Supreme Court.
Hasit seemed to distance himself from his book issued in 2021, entitled “The Drift: Preventing Ambra to slip into socialism”, in which he gave the arguments that the dismissal of Powell during Trump’s first state would have been harmful to the federal reserve, and the dollar’s credibility could be weakened and led to the collapse of the stock market.
“I think the market was completely different at the time. As you know, I was referring to the legal analysis that we conducted at the time. If a new legal analysis appears, it provides a different vision, we must reconsider our response,” Haysit said.
It was not clear what is the new legal analysis that he refers to, but there is a close follow -up issue that will decide whether Trump exceeded his powers when Democratic members were expelled from federal work councils. This case is currently before the Supreme Court, and it is considered a possible precedent to determine whether Trump is able to dismiss Powell.
Hessate said that he focuses on the US Central Bank’s procedures, not on the personalities, and expressed his objection to the bank’s decision to raise interest rates during Trump’s first state and described the tax cuts as nourishing inflation, but he did not object to “unbridled spending” during the period of former President Joe Biden, which Hessate said was “a recipe for lifting inflation.”
“So, if you believe that it is unacceptable to President Trump’s feeling of frustration with the history of the Federal Reserve Policies, I believe that you have to provide some clarifications.”
Hasit said that Trump’s policies have strengthened capital spending and created more job opportunities, while contributing to reducing inflation.
Powell Al -Wafiq
Powell stressed that the law does not allow his dismissal, and that he will not leave his position if Trump asked him to do so, and that he intends to continue his work until the end of his term in May 2026.
Powell explained this week that he does not believe that the current case before the US Supreme Court will apply to the federal reserve.
