Trump Calls Fed 'Hostile,' Eyes Warsh and Cook Board Shake-Up
Trump escalated his Fed attacks, signaling Warsh should act on rates and confirming plans to oust governor Lisa Cook.
Donald Trump isn't backing down from his war on the Federal Reserve. In a fresh interview, the president called the central bank outright "hostile" — language that raises the temperature on an already tense standoff between the White House and America's most powerful monetary institution. That's not noise. That's a direct shot across the bow of Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
Then Trump pointed at Kevin Warsh, a Fed governor and widely rumored Powell successor, saying Warsh "has to do what he has to do" on interest rates. Read that as a wink-and-nod to rate cuts. Whether Warsh takes the bait — or even has the authority to act independently right now — is a different story, but Trump is clearly laying the groundwork for a more compliant Fed leadership down the road.
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The harder headline: Trump confirmed he still plans to remove Fed governor Lisa Cook from the board. Cook, appointed by Biden, has been a reliable vote in the current policy framework. Pushing her out would reshape the board's composition and could tilt future rate decisions in a direction more favorable to the administration's growth agenda. That's not a small move — board seats matter when votes are close.
For traders, this is the macro overhang you can't ignore. A politicized Fed is a less predictable Fed. Rate expectations, dollar positioning, and bond yields all get murkier when the independence of the central bank is openly questioned at the presidential level. Keep your eye on Fed-sensitive trades — utilities, REITs, rate-leveraged plays — because this story isn't done.
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