WASHINGTON: The US Federal Reserve should remain totally independent of all political considerations, President Donald Trump’s top economic aide Kevin Hassett – seen as a favorite to eventually lead the central bank – said Sunday.
Hassett, the head of the National Economic Council, is seen as a possible successor to Fed chair Jerome Powell, who has come in for tough criticism from the Republican president.
Trump himself named Powell to the post during his first White House term.
Trump’s pick for US Fed governor vows to uphold independence
“I would say 100 percent that monetary policy, Federal Reserve monetary policy, needs to be fully independent of political influence… including from President Trump,” Hassett told CBS’s “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
“Central bank independence is something that… Democrats and Republicans and the White House all agreed about,” Hassett added.
“We’ve looked at countries that have allowed the leaders to take over the central banks, and what tends to happen is that it’s a recipe for inflation and misery for consumers.”
But Hassett did question whether the bank under Powell was “as independent as we would like, as transparent as we would like? And I think that there’s some dispute about that.”
Trump has repeatedly bashed Powell for not cutting interest rates in the world’s largest economy as quickly as the president believes he should.
He briefly considered trying to oust him, before pulling back from that idea, as financial markets remained volatile. Powell’s term ends in May 2026.
Hassett refused to be drawn about his prospects at the Fed, telling CBS he was focused on his current post.
When asked about the upcoming Supreme Court ruling on whether a large part of Trump’s aggressive tariffs are legal, Hassett voiced optimism, calling an eventual decision against the administration a “very unlikely scenario.”
A federal appeals court found that Trump exceeded his authority in tapping emergency economic powers to impose wide-ranging duties, but his administration has taken the fight to the top court.
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