President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he would appoint a top economic consultant of the Governor Board of Governors from the Federal Reserve for four months and temporarily fill a vacancy while continuing his search for a long-term appointment.
Trump said that he called Stephen Miran, the chairman of the White House Economic Council, to fill a seat cleared by governor Adriana KuglerA bidding renewal that returns on Friday. If he is approved by the Senate, Miran will serve until January 31, 2026.
The appointment is Trump’s first opportunity to practice more control over the Fed, one of the few remaining independent federal authorities. Trump has relentlessly criticized The current chairman Jerome Powell, who kept the short -term interest rates unchanged and described him as “stubborn idiots” on social media last week.
Miran was an important defender of Trump’s income tax reductions and tariff hikes and argues that the combination will create sufficient economic growth to reduce budget deficits. He also played the risk of Trump’s tariffs with a higher inflation, an important source of concern for Powell.
Miran’s choice can increase the concerns about the political influence on the Fed, which has traditionally been isolated from daily politics. Independence fed is generally regarded as the key to ensure that it can require difficult steps to combat inflation, e.g. B. the increase in interest rates so that politicians may not be able to enter into.
The governors of the Federal Reserve coordinate about all the central bank’s interest rate decisions and their financial regulatory guidelines.
If you are approved, Miran’s nomination would add an almost protective coordination to support lower interest rates. Kugler had reproduced Powell’s view that the FED should keep the interest rates unchanged and to further evaluate the effects of tariffs on the economy before taking steps.
Trump said he would appoint Fed civil servants who will reduce interest rates, which will reduce the loan costs of the huge pile of debt of the federal government. Trump also wants lower prices to increase Moribund Home SalesSome of them were held back by higher mortgage costs. However, the Fed is not set directly Long -term interest rates For things like home and car buying.
At his last meeting last week, fed civil servants kept her key rate unchanged At 4.3%, where it was after three interest cuts at the end of last year. But two fed governors – Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman – talked about this decision. Both were appointed by Trump during his first term.
Even with Miran on the board, 12 Fed officials vote on interest rate policy, and many are still concerned that Trump’s comprehensive tariffs could increase inflation higher in the coming months.
After completing his first appointment, Miran could be renovated to a longer -term FED or replaced by another candidate.
Powell’s term as chairman ends in May 2026. But Powell was able to stay on the Board of Directors until January 2028, even after he had resigned as chairman. That would deny or at least delay the opportunity for the appointment of an additional political decision -maker to the board of the Fed.
As a result, an option for Trump is to replace Powell’s later replacement as chairman in order to replace Kugler as soon as the remaining four months of their term have been completed. The leading candidates for this position include Kevin Warsh, a former feder of the Fed from 2006 to 2011 and more frequently critics by Powell’s chairman, and Kevin Hassett, another top management consultant from Trump.
Another option for the White House next May would be the selection of Waller, which is already on the board to replace Powell and which was widely mentioned as a candidate.
Marco Cairaghi, Senior Economist at Investment Bank Evercore ISI found that Miran’s choice could be a positive sign for Waller because Trump did not take the opportunity to nominate someone who is probably becoming a chair as soon as Powell has resigned.
After the July Job report was published last Friday, Miran criticized the Fed’s chair for not lowering a benchmark interest rate rates, and explained that Trump had proven to be correct in his first term in inflation and would be again. The President put Powell under pressure to reduce the short -term interest rates out of the conviction that his tariffs will not stimulate higher inflation pressure.
“What we see now in real time is a repetition of this pattern in which the president in the end correctly proved,” said Miran on MSNBC. “And the Fed will get the president’s view with a delay and probably quite too late.”
Last year Miran showed support for some unconventional economic views in comments on the Fed and the international economy.
Last November, he Proposed measures This would reduce the value of the dollar to increase exports, reduce imports and reduce the US trade deficit, a top priority for Trump. He also suggested that tariffs such as the European Union and Japan could have brought a cheaper dollar as part of a “Mar-A-Lago Agreement”, an echo of the Plaza Agreement, in the 1980s that to reduce the value of the dollar.
As a scholarship holder at the conservative Manhattan Institute, Miran in March 2024 also proposed Overhaul of Fed’s governance, also by making it easier for a president to relieve members of his governor council.
“Grouthink has made it easier for Grouthink’s current governance, which led to considerable monetary political errors,” Miran wrote in a newspaper with Dan Katz, who is now top official in the finance department.
