Trump Raises Powell Firing as Ire Toward Fed Chair Explodes

Jerome Powell during an Economic Club of Chicago event on April 16.

Photographer: Jamie Kelter Davis/Bloomberg

President Donald Trump’s long-running ire with Jerome Powell reached a fever pitch this week, with the president openly musing about dismissing the Fed chair over his interest-rate decisions as some advisers have been counseling restraint.

Trump has been asking those around him about the possibility of removing the Federal Reserve chair, according to people familiar with the matter. Moreover, Powell angered some Trump allies by giving a speech Wednesday justifying the Fed’s cautious rates approach as the president’s trade war unnerves markets, people said.