President Donald Trump has announced that he would be nominating former central banker Kevin Warsh as the next chair of the Federal Reserve. Although the current Fed chairman Jerome Powell was appointed by Trump in his first term, he and the President continued to disagree on lowering of interest rates, in his second term as President of the United States. Trump will expect Warsh to lower rates after he is officially appointed in May 2026 after Powell’s term as Fed Chair expires. 

Trump wrote on his social media site Truth Social, “I have known Kevin for a long period of time and have no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best. On top of everything else, he is “central casting,” and he will never let you down.”

Kevin Warsh has served as a primary ambassador to Wall Street during the financial crisis. The conservative economist served as a Fed governor from 2006 to 2011. The Wall Street veteran has spoken of supporting lower interest rates, earlier.

Warsh has also worked at Morgan Stanley. He is currently a visiting fellow at Stanford. He is married to the heires of the Estée Lauder fortune.

The Fed Chairman is the public face of the Central Bank. A 12-member committee sets interest rates. It consists of seven Fed governors as well as a rotating group of regional Fed bank presidents. 

The Central Bank is an independent agency. However, its decisions effect the economy.  The administration generally prefers lower interest rates so that the government can run deficits more cheaply and boost economy in the short run. Committee members, however, prefer to keep interest rates a little higher to keep inflation in check. Lower interest rates can help reduce job losses while higher interest rates can help keep inflation in check.