What the Fed President is saying to the world by resisting Trump’s pressure

Jerome Powell assures that he does not resign from the US Federal Reserve Presidency despite the pressure of the US President

The president of the United States Federal Reserve (Fed), Jerome Powell, told several acquaintances and allies that there is no chance to give in to President Donald Trump’s appeals to dismiss, promising to resist a few months of the president’s unprecedented and multifaceted attack on Powell’s refusal to lower interest rates.

The president of the main central bank of the world argues, in particular, that it should remain in office for more than just personal reasons – the fate of its presidency is now linked to the general independence of the Fed, according to people familiar with the subject. Powell considers that the fact that he fired himself now would compromise the institution’s longtime freedom regarding political interference.

“He strongly feels that his responsibility is to maintain this independence,” says Southern Dakota Republican Senator Mike Rounds, who is among those who questioned Powell personally about the possibility of him dismissing himself. “I asked him, and he said no, that it would reduce the independence of the federal reserve.”

HAHAHA: Jerome Powell just fact checked Trump TO HIS FACE and he clearly wasn’t happy about it…👇

— Harry Sisson (@harryjsisson)

Powell’s determination to comply with his term by May 2026 also assures him that he will continue to be the target of attacks by the White House against the Fed, which has faced increasing pressure to cut interest rates. This coordinated effort has placed the central bank’s traditionally sober decision making under intense scrutiny – and raised new concerns about the potential economic consequences of interference in monetary policy for political purposes.

Discrete economic expert who has undergone George HW Bush administration, Powell has gained reputation over more than a decade at the federal reserve of being a “direct shooter”, which is based on data reamination to make decisions, according to people who worked with his own. Distancing from everyday politics, despite what one people described as moderately conservative trends, helped Powell gain bipartisan support in the Senate when Trump named him to chair the Fed in 2017.

But the simple approach that attracted Trump in the first term became another blow against the Fed President. The president repeatedly annoyed with Powell’s reluctance to get involved with his calls to reduce rates. And the generally stoic personality of Powell has contributed little to winning Trump.

“I think he’s terrible,” Trump said earlier this month. “It’s like talking to a chair. There’s no personality.”

“Or Powell jumps or boils”

Trump has intensified criticism in recent weeks, openly saying that he expects Powell to fire, accusing him of trying to harm his presidency and insulting him almost daily as “stupid”, an “idiot” and “truly one of the [suas] worst nominations ”.

These attacks have been regularly amplified by Trump’s advisers and allies, for some moments spread unfounded rumors that the dismissal of the Fed president was imminent. In recent weeks, the White House has devoted a significant time to highlight the price of a Fed renewal project, launching investigations into the excessive costs of the 2.5 billion euros project and suggesting that it could be a crime that can be dismissed.

On Thursday, Trump again insisted on the issue, moving to the Fed to visit the construction, where Powell accompanied him personally. The Fed President stood while Trump defended cut cuts, at one point laughing clumsyly gave him a span on his back and said he would “love him to lower his interest rates.”

“I just want to see something happen,” Trump said later. “The interest rates have to go down.”

Despite criticism, Trump reiterated that he has no plans to say goodbye Powell – his counselors warned that this decision would sink financial markets and trigger an economic crisis.

But Trump and the advisers have sought to make Powell’s mandate as painful as possible to undermine his credibility and potentially lead him to fire.

Trump’s allies focused on the expensive renewal of the Fed, considering it a particularly powerful weapon, and Trump also promoted his own renewals in the White House, although on a much smaller scale. Still, US president’s allies argue that they can use the Fed project to increase public pressure on Powell, contrasting large spending at the Fed headquarters with the difficulties of Americans to buy home – something that they said could be relieved if the Central Bank lowered interest rates.

“Every day Jerome Powell is in Washington is a gift to the president,” said a Trump counselor, who compared the pressure campaign to boil a frog. “Either Jerome Powell jumps or boils.”

One of the Federal Reserve spokesmen refused to make any comment to this article, pointing to Powell’s previous public promises to fulfill the totality of his mandate.

Powell strategy: head down and ignore politics

However, despite all the furor coming from the White House, Powell indicated those nearby that he is keeping his head down. Publicly, it has only been concentrated in carrying out the work of the Fed in the definition of monetary policy, without taking into account political repercussions.

This approach seems to be fruitful, at least temporarily, with Trump, on Thursday, retreating in its hardest narrative after a conversation with Powell during the visit to the place of construction of the new Fed that described as a “very productive conversation.”

“There are always the” quarterbacks “on Monday morning, I don’t want to be that,” Trump said later, refusing to criticize the renewals he himself and the advisers had previously described as a scandal. “It was out of control, and that happens.”

Desananiating may not last much longer, with the Fed keeping stable rates next week and postponing any policy change to the fall. It is likely that this decision enrages Trump, which has settled in reducing rates as a way to further stimulate the economy before next year’s interchange elections.

But both private and public, Powell ignored the political implications, underlining the need to gird only with the economic considerations that have long guided the Fed.

“The best defense for the Fed is to get it right in politics,” explains Bill English, a professor at Yale University and former director of the Fed Monetary Affairs Division. “I feel sorry for the man, but the best thing you can do is handle firm and do the best possible job in monetary policy.”

Democrats back on board

Outside Trump’s orbit, Powell’s determination to finish the robbery of the democrats – including many who had previously criticized him during the Biden era, when the Fed continued to increase rates to try to fight the wave of inflation.

At the time, Powell’s insistence on keeping the rates higher for longer, for the so -called “soft landing” of the economy, caused a dismay between some members of Biden’s White House and the Democratic Party in general, who were afraid that the approach could lead the country to a recession.

But the ancients have been gathered since then around Powell, eager for the potential consequences if he decided to leave.

“He is putting the integrity of the institution above himself,” says Jared Bernstein, who presided over to the Biden Era Economic Counselors Council. “If I were a 72 -year -old man who was being verbally abused by the president every day, the reform would look very good. But I really believe that Powell is committed to protecting the institution.”

As for Republicans, some afraid legislators with the possibility of damaging the credibility of the Fed encouraged the White House to retreat in their criticism, arguing that the current scenario will be beneficial to Trump as soon as Powell begins to lower interest rates.

However, until this message comes, they are depositing their faith in Powell – and expecting to remain true to his word.

“The vast majority of Senate members are intelligent enough to have been in contact with the markets, have observed the markets, to know the impact on the markets if there was any indication that the Fed was being coerced,” says Rounds, the Republican senator. “Powell is in the right position. It has a very difficult position, but I respect it for the position it has taken.”