Trump 'may change mind' about firing Fed Chair
US President Donald Trump has again floated the idea of firing Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chair he has long attacked over interest rates he wants lowered.
"I don't know why the Board doesn't override (Powell)," Trump wrote in a lengthy post on Truth Social criticising Fed policy. "Maybe, just maybe, I'll have to change my mind about firing him? But regardless, his Term ends shortly."
Trump added: "I fully understand that my strong criticism of him makes it more difficult for him to do what he should be doing, lowering Rates, but I've tried it all different ways."
Fed policymakers have long been seen as insulated from presidential dismissal for reasons other than malfeasance or misconduct, but Trump has threatened to test that legal premise with long-running threats to fire Powell.
Just last week, though, Trump set aside the idea. "I'm not going to fire him," he said at the White House on June 12.
The Fed held rates steady on Wednesday in the 4.25 per cent-4.50 per cent range and forecast slower growth as well as higher unemployment and inflation by year's end.
Fed Governor Chris Waller, who has been floated as a possible Trump pick to be Powell's successor, said on Friday that with inflation coming down and the labour market showing signs of weakening, rate cuts should be considered as soon as July.
But even Waller joined the unanimous Fed decision to leave rates on hold, signalling no inclination by any of Powell's six fellow Board members, or of the five voting regional Fed bank presidents, to "override" him.
Elected partly on voters' belief that he could contain high inflation, the Republican US president has imposed tariff hikes in office. Powell, echoing an academic consensus, has said some of those tariff hikes will be paid for in higher consumer prices.
Powell's term ends in May 2026, and Trump is expected to nominate a successor in the coming months.
A Supreme Court ruling in May eased concerns that Trump could fire Powell as the justices called the Fed "a uniquely structured, quasi-private entity."
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The paper said the decision to cancel the July 1 meeting was also related to Japan's July 20 upper house elections, expected to be a major test for Ishiba's minority coalition government. Japan's move comes ahead of a meeting of the US-led NATO alliance in Europe next week, at which Trump is expected to press his demand that European allies boost their defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP. Japan has cancelled a regular high-level meeting with its key ally the US after the Trump administration demanded it spend more on defence. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had been expected to meet Japan's Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and Defence Minister Gen Nakatani in Washington on July 1 for annual security talks. But according to the Financial Times, Tokyo scrapped the meeting after the US asked Japan to boost defence spending to 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product, higher than an earlier request of 3 per cent. 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