US President Donald Trump has expanded his search to replace Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, with contenders including St. Louis Fed President James Bullard and former economic adviser to President George W. Bush, Marc Sumerlin.
Trump on Thursday said he would nominate Stephen Miran, his top economic adviser, to a vacancy on the Fed board, amplifying political pressure on the central bank.
The latest appointment is unlikely to change the short-term course of monetary policy, but it spotlights the politics surrounding the Fed: Because of term lengths and the fact that its chair must already be on its board, Trump may not get another chance to name Powell’s replacement.
The standoff has global implications: “How long can the international community rely on a reserve currency whose central bank faces systematic political interference?” one scholar wrote in World Politics Review.