Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump raises his fist during the first day of the Republican National Convention (RNC) at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S., July 15, 2024.
Elizabeth Franz | Reuters
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek that he would allow Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to complete his term at the central bank if he wins the November election.
“I would let him do his job, especially if I thought he was doing the right thing,” Trump told Bloomberg Businessweek. President Joe Biden nominated Powell for a second four-year term as Fed chair in May 2022.
Powell also serves as Federal Reserve Chairman, a position he will hold until January 31, 2028.
The comments represent a radical shift in the position of the former president, whose relationship with the central bank governor was tense.
Powell took office as Fed chair in February 2018, and had faced criticism from then-President Trump over the years over interest rate policy.
In 2019, Trump criticized the central bank and its chairman — even as policymakers cut interest rates three times that year, eventually to a target range of 1.5% to 1.75% — arguing that the United States was at an economic disadvantage compared to other countries with low interest rates.
In February of this year, Trump told Fox Business that he would not reappoint Powell to lead the Fed. “I think he’s a politician,” he told journalist Maria Bartiromo. “I think he’ll do something to help the Democrats, I think, if he lowers interest rates.”
Read the article in Bloomberg Businessweek here.
