The President of the United States, Donald Trump, said on Wednesday (the 21st) that he is in the final stretch of choosing the next president of the Federal Reserve (Fed), the American central bank, and signaled that he already has a favorite.
In an interview with CNBC during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he said that the process started in September, with up to 11 names considered, is now virtually decided.
“I would say we are at three, but we are at two. And I can probably say that we are, in my mind, perhaps at one,” he stated, without revealing the chosen candidate.
The list of candidates includes former and current leaders of the Fed itself, economists and Wall Street executives. Among the most-cited names are former director Kevin Warsh, current director Christopher Waller, the head of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett, and Rick Rieder, responsible for BlackRock’s fixed income division.
Trump praised Rieder, the last to be interviewed, calling him “impressive” and said he was satisfied with the caliber of all the finalists. In recent days, however, the president has indicated that he would prefer to keep Hassett in charge of the NEC, which reduces the chances of his name advancing.
The selection of the successor comes after a year of unprecedented turbulence in the relationship between the White House and the Fed.
Although Trump had already harshly criticized Jerome Powell since his first term, the assaults intensified in 2025, with public attacks on the conduct of monetary policy, explicit threats of dismissal and a direct move to remove the director Lisa Cook, a case that was considered by the Supreme Court this Wednesday and is seen as the greatest recent test of the central bank’s independence.
