Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has a shortlist of "three or four" candidates for President Trump to consider for the role of Federal Reserve chair, Reuters reported. It comes as Trump looks to expand his influence over the central bank, which has resisted his demands to drastically lower interest rates.
Speaking with CNBC, Bessent said that he has already narrowed the list from 11 to five. Bessent said he will present Trump with the finalists after Thanksgiving.
"So I suspect that will go on in November and then likely sometime after Thanksgiving, in December, we'll present the president with three or four candidates for him to interview."
"At the end of the day, he'll take input like he always does from dozens, hundreds of people and then make a decision," Bessent said.
Trump wants interest rates to be lowered to stimulate the economy and ease borrowing costs on housing, with affordability at all-time lows.
CNBC has reported that two of the candidates being interviewed are sitting Fed members. They are Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman and Governor Christopher Waller. The other three are Kevin Hassett, the current director of the National Economic Council, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh and BlackRock Fixed Income CIO Rick Rieder.
Bessent would not say whether the next Fed chair needs to commit to lowering rates, but Bessent said candidates should "have an open mind."
The president has repeatedly railed against Fed Chair Jerome Powell, nicknaming him "too late" over his slowness to lower rates.
Trump has even threatened to fire Powell, whose term as chair expires in May of next year. Trump is also currently in a court battle with Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, a Biden appointee, whom Trump fired over allegations of mortgage fraud that she denies.
The Supreme Court will weigh Cook's firing in January, but for now, the court is allowing her to remain in her job and continue influencing monetary policy.
The Fed has two additional meetings this year, in October and December.
The Federal Reserve modestly lowered interest rates in September, marking the first rate cut in a year, but Trump wants the central bank to go further.
During a speech Tuesday, Powell signaled that the Fed would continue targeting unemployment with rate cuts.
“Based on the data that we do have, it is fair to say that the outlook for employment and inflation does not appear to have changed much since our September meeting four weeks ago. Data available prior to the shutdown, however, show that growth in economic activity may be on a somewhat firmer trajectory than expected," he said.
