President Trump plans to name a successor to Jerome Powell, who ends his term as Fed chair in May 2026. Two contenders have emerged as the next US Fed chief after Powell.
Initially, the name of Kevin Warsh came up, but now a rising chorus of advisers inside and outside the Trump administration are pushing for another candidate to serve as the next chair of the Federal Reserve: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Jerome Powell was picked up by Trump in 2017 to lead the world’s largest central bank, the US Federal Reserve. Now, Trump wants Powell to be removed as the Fed chief much before his term ends in May 2026.
Removing Powell could be a long-fought battle in the courts as US laws don’t allow that, but the Trump administration is leaving no stones unturned to intervene in the working ofthe Federal Reserve.
Trump has been vocal through his social media posts and press briefings, calling Powell names and using adjectives to defame him. Trump wants Powell to cut rates from the range of 4.25%- 4.5% to as low as 1% in a quick time. Powell and other fed officials opt to wait till the impact on inflation from Trump tariffs is known.
Besides this, the Trump administration is likely creating a ‘Shadow’ Chief – a proposal Scott Bessent first floated last year before he became Trump’s Treasury secretary, to put pressure on Powell.
Here’s a look at the 2 strong contenders for the post of US Fed Chief
Kevin Warsh
Kevin Warsh is emerging as a strong contender to be U.S. President Donald Trump’s pick for the position of Chairman of the US Federal Reserve. Warsh is a former member of the Fed’s Board of Governors, about running the Fed.
Kevin M. Warsh was sworn in as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on February 24, 2006. He left the Board on March 31, 2011.
Born on 13 April 1970 in Albany, New York, Warsh studied public policy at Stanford University, focusing on economics and statistics. He later earned a law degree from Harvard Law School, where he studied law, economics, and regulatory policy. He also studied market economics and debt capital markets at Harvard Business School and the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In 1995, Warsh joined Morgan Stanley & Co.’s mergers and acquisitions department, where he advised various companies in various industries, structured capital markets transactions, and facilitated fixed income and equity financing.
In 2002, Warsh left Morgan Stanley & Co. to join President George W. Bush’s administration. He served as special assistant for economic policy and executive secretary at the National Economic Council. Warsh advised the president on US economic issues, including capital market fund flows, securities, banking, and insurance. He was also a member of the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets.
In 2006, President Bush nominated Warsh to the Board of Governors, where he served as the Board’s representative to the G-20 and emissary to Asian emerging economies.
Warsh, during his tenure on the Board, delivered several notable speeches, including “The End of History?”, “The Federal Funds Rate in Extraordinary Times,” and “Rejecting the Requiem.”
Here’s what Warsh said on May 21, 2008, on inflation and the Fed funds rate – The Federal Reserve had aggressively cut the federal funds rate by 3.25% in nine months, but Warsh warned against over-reliance on this tool, advocating for broader measures to address financial market disruptions. He stresses humility in recognizing the limits of monetary policy knowledge amidst economic uncertainty.
Warsh recently criticized the Fed for not making a “cruel choice” between stable prices and full employment, citing the common belief that reducing inflation harms the job market.
“At the Fed, when they talk about how we get inflation down, what they really mean is, how do we get the unemployment rate up … we need to throw people out of work to get the inflation rate to come down, which is nonsense. But that’s embedded in economic thinking, including at the Fed.”
Warsh suggested that if the printing press were quiet, lower policy rates could be achieved, a suggestion Trump has repeatedly urged Fed Chair Jerome Powell to deliver.
Scott Bessent
On January 28, 2025, Scott Bessent was sworn in as the 79th Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. Bessent is responsible for the U.S. Treasury’s wide-ranging mission to maintain a strong economy, foster economic growth and create job opportunities, as well as manage the U.S. Government’s finances.
Bessent has been in the global investment management business for 40 years and is regarded as a currency and fixed income specialist.
Previously, Bessent served as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Key Square Capital Management, a global hedge fund focused on macro investing that he founded in 2015.
Before that time, Bessent was the Chief Investment Officer of Soros Fund Management. Bessent was an adjunct professor at Yale University, where he taught economic history. From 1991 to 2000, he was managing partner of Soros Fund Management’s London office.