Federal Reserve chair nominee will be announced on January 30, says Donald Trump

U.S. President Donald Trump to announce Federal Reserve chair nominee on January 30, amidst tensions with current chair Jerome Powell over interest rates.

President Donald Trump said he plans to announce his choice for chairman of the Federal Reserve on Friday (January 30, 2026) morning, a long-awaited decision that could set up a showdown on whether the U.S. central bank preserves its independence from the White House and electoral politics.

For the past year, the President has aggressively attacked Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whose term as the head of the US central bank ends in May.

Mr. Trump maintains that Mr. Powell should cut the Fed's benchmark interest rates more drastically to fuel faster economic growth, while the Fed chair has taken a far more judicious approach in the wake of Mr. Trump's tariffs because inflation is already elevated.

“I'll be announcing the Fed chair tomorrow morning,” Mr. Trump told reporters on Thursday (January 29) night as he went into the screening of the documentary “Melania” about his wife. “It's going to be, somebody that is very respected, somebody that's known to everybody in the financial world. And I think it's going to be a very good choice. I hope so.”

Mr. Trump stayed relatively cryptic about his pick. His search was led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent with four known finalists: Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor; Christopher Waller, a current Fed governor; Rick Rieder, an executive with the financial firm BlackRock, and Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council. Mr. Trump, in the past, suggested that

Mr. Trump did say on Thursday (January 29) night that “a lot of people think that this is somebody that could have been there a few years ago,” fuelling speculation that he had chosen Warsh, who was a finalist in the 2017 search for Fed chair that led to Powell's selection.