Trump swears Kevin Warsh in as Fed chair, seeking interest rate cuts
President Donald Trump will appoint Kevin Warsh to chair the Federal Reserve on Friday, putting him in charge of a central bank that must navigate a turbulent economy and a president with very specific expectations for interest rates.
Warsh, 56, will be the 11th Fed chairman of the modern banking era, replacing Jerome Powell, who served for eight years.
Powell, one of the main targets of Trump’s anger over his refusal to cut interest rates as quickly or as sharply as the president wanted, will continue to serve as a governor at the Fed. He became the first Fed chairman to make such a move in nearly 80 years.
Friday’s swearing-in ceremony marks Warsh’s second term at the Fed. He previously served as governor from 2006 to 2011, when the central bank joined forces with Treasury officials to rescue the economy from the global financial crisis.
Although Warsh assisted the Fed’s efforts, he later began criticizing the central bank for allowing crisis-era policies to remain in place and for allowing it to exceed its mandate on stable prices and low unemployment. For example, he cited previous efforts to combat climate change and social inequality as areas where the mission is stalling and promised to reduce the central bank’s pressure on markets.
Warsh won the seat after a wide-ranging contest that began in the summer of 2025 and included as many as 11 candidates, from current and former Fed officials to prominent economists and Wall Street strategists.
Powell’s term was marked by repeated and often personal criticisms of Trump. The president demanded more aggressive action from the Fed on lowering interest rates and accused Powell of suffering from “Trump imbalance syndrome” even though the Fed cut the benchmark borrowing rate by three-quarters and raised it by 4.25 points at one point during Joe Biden’s presidency.
Despite Trump’s demands to lower interest rates, markets expect the Fed to remain steady through most, if not all, of 2026 and then likely raise interest rates in early 2027.
Powell’s run was also characterized by inflation running above the Fed’s 2% target for five years. Warsh promised that he could control inflation while lowering benchmark interest rates.
Since leaving the Fed, Warsh has spent time at Stanley Druckenmiller’s Duquesne Family Office and as a lecturer at Stanford University and the Hoover Institution. Warsh was thought to be a leading candidate for the Fed chair when Trump made it clear he would not renominate Janet Yellen, but the president ultimately chose Powell at the insistence of former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
This is developing news. Please check back for updates.
