U.S. President Trump announced on the 30th that he has nominated former Federal Reserve Board Governor Kevin Warsh to serve as the Chair of the Federal Reserve. The current Fed Chair Jerome Powell's term will expire in May this year.
"I have known Kevin for a long time, and he will undoubtedly become one of the greatest, perhaps the best, Chairmen in Federal Reserve history," Trump wrote on social media.
Warsh's nomination still requires approval by the U.S. Senate.
According to reports, Trump had considered Warsh as a candidate for Fed Chair in 2017, but ultimately selected Powell. Warsh, born in 1970, served as a Fed Governor from 2006 to 2011 and was also an economic adviser to former President George W. Bush.
The 55-year-old Warsh comes from the Wall Street financial sector, having worked as a mergers and acquisitions adviser at Morgan Stanley before joining the Bush administration in 2002 as an economic policy staffer. In 2006, he was nominated to the Fed Board. At that time, he was only 35, making him the youngest Fed Governor in history.
Since Trump returned to the White House, he has continually urged the Fed to cut interest rates and has repeatedly threatened to "fire" Powell, raising market concerns over the Fed's independence. In January this year, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a subpoena to Powell regarding issues related to the renovation project of the Fed headquarters, involving a criminal investigation.