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As US equity markets continue to fall – and recession calls mount from establishment elites, despite strong 'hard' data' – President Trump lashed out at Fed Chair Powell via TruthSocial this morning exclaiming that Powell's termination from his position can’t come quickly enough, arguing that the US central bank should have lowered interest rates already this year, and in any case should do so now.

In a news conference in November, Powell was asked whether he would step down if Trump asked him to resign. 

Powell gave an unusually blunt answer: "No."

He later added that the removal or demotion of top Fed officials was "not permitted under the law."

We suspect some of Trump's frustration comes from the fact that China's PBOC is doing 'whatever it takes' to prop up their economy/market (take your pick)…

Furthermore, Trump does have grounds for thinking that the so-called 'Independent' Fed is far from it following the comments from Bill Dudley in 2019…

Doesn't sound like an 'apolitical' entity to us?

One more thing – for mathematically gifted among you – why did The Fed slash rates by 50bps just ahead of the election when financial conditions were already 'easy' but refuses to do so now that financial conditions are drastically tighter?

However, Trump’s ability to remove top officials at agencies that had long been viewed as having a measure of independence from the White House has come into acute focus in recent months, after the administration dismissed senior officials at the Federal Trade Commission, the National Labor Relations Board and Merit Systems Protection Board.

As Bloomberg reports, the firings are the most direct challenge yet to a 1935 Supreme Court decision that paved the way for agency independence. 

Powell made reference Wednesday to a current Supreme Court case with regard to the removal of the NLRB and MSPB officials.

Powell’s term as chair runs into May 2026, while his term as a governor lasts until February 2028.