Name: Donald Trump nominates Federal Reserve critic Kevin Warsh to run US central bank | BBC News
Uploaded: 2026-01-31T16:58:11.000Z
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Now President Trump has confirmed he has nominated Kevin Walsh to be the next chair of the US Central bank, the Federal Reserve.

Basic passive voice

The appointment will still need to be approved by Congress where some lawmakers on both sides have said they will oppose it unless the criminal investigation into the Fed and the activities of current chair Jerome Powell are dropped.

Walsh previously served on the Fed's Board of Governors and, and

has aligned himself with Trump's view that interest rates should be lower in the world's biggest economy.

Well, with me is our business correspondent Mark Ashdown.

I suppose, Mark, the first question I should ask you is why Kevin Walsh?

Well, let's have a little cancer through his cv, shall we?

As you mentioned, he was a fed governor from 2006 to 2011.

He's a fellow at the right leaning Hoover Institution, which gives you an idea.

Serves on the board of ups, the logistics global supply chain firm.

He's been around the block on Wall street, it's fair to say.

He was interestingly considered for the role of Fed chair during Trump's first term.

So he's been in the running, certainly not nailed on.

There's been a lot of names around the rumor mill, of course, been whirling.

And it's also unclear really whether he was in fact Donald Trump's first choice.

There's thoughts that he's aligned himself more to President Trump's way of thinking.

He's been an outspoken critic of the Fed.

He's not a fan of this ultra loose monetary policy they've pursued since the financial crash back in 2008.

Interestingly though, he has a reputation as something of a hawk.

So worried about high inflation, not so worried about high interest rates.

I think that's going against the grain really of what Trump has been after.

We know he's been putting a lot of pressure on the Fed chair Jerome Powell to lower rates quickly.

He thinks that will help boost the economy.

So I think that's helping to sort of calm the markets, calm commentators, that he won't be an all out stooge, if you like, of Donald Trump.

But certainly, yes, as you say, his, his instincts are for lower rates at the moment.

So there's going to be an interesting balance there.

President Trump has had quite a stormy relationship certainly with the current chair I think the latest he called him a mor in the last couple of days.

Are we expecting this to be a little bit more of a happy relationship?

Yeah, I think there's no love lost between Donald Trump and current Fed chair Jerome Powell.

Fair to say if we look at how Donald Trump announced this nomination, of course he nominates.

It has to be ratified, signed off by Congress.

I have known Kevin for a long period of time, he said I have no doubt he will go down as one of the in Capital's great Fed chairman, maybe the best.

On top of everything else, he says he is central casting.

We're also trying to work out what he might mean by the phrase central casting.

The US doesn't open, of course for an hour or so.

Precious metals seen as a safe haven when times are troubled.

Now, is this a sort of rebalancing moment maybe for portfolios traders thinking, well do I back equities now, move money back into companies because we're looking at a bit more stability.

Well, just this Wednesday, the Fed said it would keep that key lending rate between 3.5% and 3.7% as expected.

But it's the comments that are really important.

Jerome Powell again spoke about the independence of the Fed, how important that is credibility.

Said once you lose it, it's difficult to restore.

As you mentioned, he's under criminal investigation, he says orchestrated by Donald Trump to increase the pressure on the Fed.

Will there be some political pressure to make that go away?

Draw a line on that before all this gets signed off.

But certainly one way or another, we are getting a new chair of the Federal Reserve, one of the biggest roles in the the U.S.

they set the parameters for the world's largest economy.

I'll leave you with some comments from Donald Trump on Kevin Walsh back in December.

He thinks you have to lower rates, he said.

So we will see in the spring where we get to with that.

That does seem quite appropriate coming from the king of reality TV broadcasting, President Apprentices.

Thank you very much, Marcus, our business correspondent.