Kevin Hassett, a top contender for President Donald Trump’s Fed chair pick, stated that Trump’s voice would carry no weight in the central bank’s interest rate decisions under his chairmanship.
“[He] has very strong and well-founded views about what we ought to do,” Hassett, Trump’s top economic adviser at the White House, said Sunday on CBS’ Face the Nation.
“But in the end, the job of the Fed is to be independent and to work with the group of people that are on the Board of Governors, the FOMC, to drive a group consensus on where interest rates should be,” he added.
Hassett’s remarks follow Trump’s recent comment that he should be able to weigh in on Fed rate decisions.
Hassett is largely seen as a dovish candidate likely to align with Trump’s demands for aggressive interest rate cuts to bolster economic growth. His advocacy for looser monetary policy, including recent support for bigger cuts, positions him to tilt the Fed toward prioritizing economic expansion over inflation control.
Bitcoin bulls are pinning hopes on Fed rate cuts to sustain a bullish price trajectory in the coming months.
As of writing, Hassett leads Polymarket odds at 52% for Fed chair, topping the former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh’s 40%. Warsh’s probability has surged sharply from 13% since Trump met him last week. Powell’s term is slated to end on. May 15.