President Donald Trump will swear in Kevin Warsh as chair of the Federal Reserve on Friday, putting him in charge of a central bank that must navigate a tumultuous economy and a president with very specific expectations on interest rates.
Warsh, 56, will become the 11th Fed chair of the modern banking era and succeeds Jerome Powell, who served eight years.
Powell, a major target of Trump’s ire over his refusal to lower rates as quickly or steeply as the president desired, will continue to serve at the Fed as a governor. He is the first Fed chair to make such a move in nearly 80 years.
Friday’s swearing-in marks Warsh’s second stint at the Fed. He previously served as governor from 2006 to 2011, a time in which the central bank joined forces with Treasury officials to rescue the economy from the global financial crisis.
Though Warsh helped the Fed effort, he later grew critical of the central bank for allowing crisis-era policies to remain in place and to overreach its mandate for stable prices and low unemployment. For instance, he has cited prior efforts to address climate change and social inequality as areas of mission creep, and has vowed to trim down the central bank’s imprint on markets.
Warsh gained the seat following a wide-ranging competition that began in the summer of 2025 and included as many as 11 candidates, ranging from current and former Fed officials to prominent economists and Wall Street strategists.
Powell’s term was marked by repeated and often personal criticism from Trump. The president demanded more aggressive action from the Fed when it came to cutting rates and accused Powell of having “Trump derangement syndrome,” even though the Fed lowered its benchmark borrowing rate by three-quarters of a percentage point and raised by 4.25 points during one stretch of the Joe Biden presidency.
Despite Trump’s demands for lower rates, markets are betting the Fed will stay on hold through most, if not all, of 2026, and then possibly hiking rates in early 2027.
The Powell run also was characterized by inflation running above the Fed’s 2% goal for five years running. Warsh has vowed he can both control inflation while lowering benchmark rates.
Since leaving the Fed, Warsh has spent time at Stanley Druckenmiller’s Duquesne Family Office, and as a lecturer at Stanford University and the Hoover Institution. Warsh was thought to be a leading candidate for Fed chair when Trump made clear he was not going to renominate Janet Yellen, but the president ultimately chose Powell, reportedly at the urging of former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
This is developing news. Please check back for updates.
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