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President Donald Trump said Wednesday that his next pick to lead the U.S. Federal Reserve will be someone who strongly favors cutting interest rates, signaling continued pressure on the central bank to ease borrowing costs.
“I’ll soon announce our next chairman of the Federal Reserve, someone who believes in lower interest rates, by a lot, and mortgage payments will be coming down even further,” the president said during a nationally televised address highlighting economic and national security accomplishments in the first year of his second term.
President Trump has previously said he plans to name a successor to current Fed Chair Jerome Powell early next year. Powell’s term as chair expires in 2026.
Several candidates are widely viewed as finalists for the role, including White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh and current Fed Governor Chris Waller. All have expressed support for lower interest rates than current levels, though none has publicly called for the deep cuts President Trump has advocated.
The president has at times pushed for rates as low as 1 percent, a level typically seen during major economic crises. The Federal Reserve’s benchmark interest rate currently ranges from 3.5 percent to 3.75 percent.
While Trump has repeatedly emphasized the need to bring down mortgage rates, the Fed’s benchmark rate has only an indirect effect on long-term borrowing costs. Mortgage rates are more closely tied to longer-term yields, such as the 10-year Treasury note, which reflects investor expectations for inflation and economic growth.
Those yields have changed little over the past year, and mortgage rates have remained largely flat, hovering between 6.3-6.4 percent since Labor Day.
President Trump told The Wall Street Journal last week that he was leaning toward Warsh or Hassett to lead the central bank. Interviews with candidates continued on Wednesday, including a meeting with Waller, who has argued for lower rates while also defending the Federal Reserve’s independence.