Fed's Powell says he will not quit even if asked by Trump

By Michael S. Derby

(Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Thursday he would refuse to leave office early if incoming President Donald Trump tried to oust him, adding he cannot be legally removed anyway.

Speaking at a press conference following the latest meeting of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, Powell was asked if he'd exit central bank leadership if asked by Trump, who repeatedly attacked him in his first term as president. Powell said flatly "no" and noted that removing him, or any of the other Fed governors, ahead of the end of their terms is "not permitted under the law."

Powell spoke after the Fed met expectations and cut its interest rate target range by a quarter percentage point to between 4.5% and 4.75%, as officials continue to normalize monetary policy amid cooling inflation pressures.

Ahead of the U.S. national elections on Tuesday, the Fed had been widely expected to press forward with interest rate cuts.

Powell on Thursday brushed off numerous questions about what Trump's stated policy aims could mean for central bank decision-making. "In the near-term the election will have no effects on our policy decisions," Powell said, adding "we don't guess, speculate and we don't assume what the broader government might do."

Earlier on Thursday CNN had reported that a Trump advisor said the president-elect would keep Powell on through the end of his leadership term, which is set to expire in May 2026. Powell's term as governor extends to the end of January, 2028.

CNN reported that Trump is considering either former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, now a persistent critic of the central bank, and his former administration chief economist Kevin Hassett as potential Powell replacements.

Fed leadership hold roles that are designed by law to protect them from political pressure and removal outside of their formal terms.

SOURED RELATIONSHIP

Trump named Powell as Fed chair in early 2018 to replace Janet Yellen, who later became President Joe Biden's Treasury Secretary. Biden reappointed Powell to his current term.

But the relationship between Trump and Powell turned sour, with Trump frequently attacking the Fed and its chief during his first term in office for the central bank's policy choices, although policymakers routinely shrugged off the harsh words. Trump's Fed attacks broke from decades of presidents steering clear of direct criticism of the central bank, which operates with legal independence subject to the oversight of Congress.

Any attempt to try to eject a Fed leader, even if unsuccessful, would likely be received very negatively by financial markets and would also likely fuel fears of rising price pressures.

At the same time, policies Trump says he favors - high and expansive trade tariffs and massive deportations of undocumented immigrants - are likely to restart the fires of inflation the central bank has had success cooling.

If Trump policies do create that reality it could stop the Fed from cutting rates as far as it might otherwise have expected, and could even force the central bank to raise rates. For some observers, that suggests the Fed and Trump might be on a collision course.

But for now, the Fed has some breathing room. "President-elect Trump is likely to pressure the Fed to cut interest rates more aggressively like he did during his first term, but at least over the next year it will have little effect on the trajectory of interest rates since the Fed system is structured to insulate rate decisions from pressure from the White House," said Bill Adams, chief economist for Comerica Bank.

(Reporting by Michael S. Derby; Editing by Andrea Ricci)