Trump says his administration has started interviews for next Fed chair

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he was speaking with various people about the Federal Reserve chairman's job and had some unexpected candidates on the list of those who might replace Jerome Powell.

"We have some surprising names and we have some standard names that everybody's talking about," Trump said when asked about the Fed search during an Oval Office appearance with visiting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

"We may go the standard way. It's nice to, every once in a while, go politically correct. But we have some great names," he said.

Trump reiterated that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent did not want the job and continued to berate Powell, who he has repeatedly criticized for not lowering interest rates faster.

"I'd love to get the guy currently in there out... but people are holding me back," he said, referring to Powell, whose term as Fed chair is up in May.

(Reporting by Steve Holland, writing by Bhargav Acharya and Doina Chiacu; editing by Costas Pitas and David Ljunggren)