Donald Trump said he would not keep Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve chairman, charging the bank chief with lowering interest rates to help Joe Biden win a second term in the White House.
'No, I wouldn't,' Trump said when asked about keeping Powell after his term expires in 2026, in an interview with Fox Business Network that aired on Friday.
'I think he's going to do something to help the Democrats, if he lowers interest rates,' Trump said.
The former president is leading the polls for the Republican presidential nomination and many expect the 2024 election to be a repeat of Biden versus Trump.
The former president insinuated Powell would make such a move to help Biden win a second term but warned it could backfire by causing inflation to rise.
'I think if he lowers interest rates, but you have the potential of having massive inflation again,' he said of Powell. 'But it looks to me like he's trying to lower interest rates for the sake of maybe getting people elected.'
Powell said on Wednesday that interest rates had peaked and he would move to lower them in coming months, which is a sign of the strong U.S. economy.
'We've got six good months of inflation data and an expectation that there's more to come,' he said. 'Let's be honest, this is a good economy.'
He noted rate cuts would come once the Fed becomes more secure that inflation will continue to decline.
Trump and Powell clashed repeatedly when Trump was in the White House and Powell refused to lower interest rates on command. Trump nominated Powell to lead the central bank in 2018.
