GOP stalwart expected to be next Fed chairman
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is expected to name Jerome Powell as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve, replacing Janet Yellen, the chairwoman whose term expires in early 2018, according to two people familiar with the plans.
An announcement could come as soon as Thursday, before the president’s 12-day trip to Asia.
Powell, a Fed governor since 2012, is a Republican with deep roots in the party’s establishment and in the financial industry. He has steadily supported the Fed’s current approach to monetary policy and financial regulation, creating an expectation that he would bring continuity to the role.
One person familiar with the president’s thinking described Powell as the “safe” choice and the one who most closely fit Trump’s penchant for filling his government with characters from “central casting,” as he often puts it.
Both people familiar with the president’s thinking cautioned that Trump was notoriously mercurial in his decisionmaking and that he liked creating drama around important personnel decisions. However, both people, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the president appeared set on Powell and that an announcement would come this week.
In choosing Powell, Trump would be resisting pressure by conservatives to make a larger change at the Fed.
Many conservatives, including Vice President Mike Pence, favored the selection of John B. Taylor, an economist at Stanford and an outspoken critic of the Fed’s monetary policy.
Powell has consistently supported the Fed’s campaign to stimulate economic growth.
On regulatory policy, Powell has defended most changes made after the financial crisis.
Powell, a lawyer by training, worked as an investment banker before joining the Treasury Department under President George H.W. Bush.