Trump aims to fire Fed chair, appointed in his first term – National & International News – FRI 18Apr2025
Trump aims to fire Fed chair, appointed in his first term.
Trump moves to reclassify federal workers, making them easier to fire.
Without progress, Trump, Rubio warn US could “move on” from Ukraine peace talks.
Trump aims to fire Fed chair, appointed in his first term
Shortly after President Trump’s election victory in November, Federal reserve chair Jerome Powell was asked by reporters if he would resign his position if Trump demanded it. Powell flatly answered “No”.
Trump nominated Powell for his position in 2017 and Biden renominated him in 2021. However, during Biden’s term, Trump was often critical of Powell’s performance. While the President has the authority to nominate a Fed chair, they do not have the authority to fire them in normal practice. Fed chairs serve a 4-year term, and Powell’s current term ends on May 15, 2026.
Tensions and “termination”
Tensions between Powell and Trump have boiled over again in recent weeks over Trump’s tariffs. Since 2022, been attempting to orchestrate a “soft landing” (cooling inflation without pushing the US into recession) by periodically raising interest rates. According to Powell, Trump’s tariffs have made a soft landing much more difficult.
Most recently on Wednesday, Powell said that the tariffs put the Fed in the position of having to manage accelerating inflation in a slowing economy, a condition known as “stagflation”. Powell also said the central bank would hold steady on interest rates for the time being. Trump responded on TruthSocial, demanding that Powell begin cutting interest rates. He added that Powell’s “termination cannot come fast enough“.
Self-inflicted wound
It’s not clear how Trump could force Powell out if he is not willing to leave before his term ends. However, Trump’s National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said Trump is “studying” ways to remove Powell.
Because of the structure of the Central Bank, even if Trump were to succeed in ousting Powell, it would be unlikely to achieve his aims of having more direct control over Fed policy. However, it would stoke greater uncertainty in increasingly fidgety financial markets, who see Powell as a steady hand and would see his ouster as destabilizing.
Trump moves to reclassify federal workers, making them easier to fire
President Trump announced this week that he is moving to enact Schedule F appointments, which will make it possible to reclassify tens of thousands of federal workers as political appointees. This will make it easier for the administration to remove federal workers from certain positions and replace them with workers who are more aligned with the Trump agenda. Under Schedule F, these newly hired workers would not have to undergo civil service examinations.
The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, the civil service protections make it difficult to fire career government workers do not apply to federal employees “whose position has been determined to be of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character”.
President Trump attempted to implement a Schedule F agenda during his first term in response to federal workers that he felt were undermining his policy agenda. Trump first signed the order in 2019, but it was largely thwarted by the COVID-19 pandemic. President Biden then repealed the order after he came into office.
Shortly after his inauguration, Trump issued a very similar executive order to the one that he issued in 2019. In the 2025 order, the head of the Office of Personnel Management is given greater discretion to decide which federal employees can be reclassified under the order.
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Without progress, Trump, Rubio warn US could “move on” from Ukraine peace talks
Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have warned that the US will likely abandon efforts to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine if there is not significant progress in the coming days. Rubio told reporters, “we need to decide whether this is even possible or not,” and if not, “we’re just going to move on”. He added that, “it’s not our war. We have other priorities to focus on”.
Shortly thereafter, Trump reiterated his desire for a peace deal but expressed frustration with the lack of progress. “If for some reason, one of the two parties makes it very difficult,” Trump said, “we’re just going to say, ‘You’re foolish, you’re fools, you’re horrible people,’ and we’re going to just take a pass”.
It wasn’t clear whether the comments were directed towards Russian President Vladimir Putin or Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Yesterday, however, Zelensky accused Trump’s special diplomatic envoy Steve Witkoff of “disseminating Russian narratives”. Despite the recent signing of a framework for a US-Ukraine deal on mineral rights, relations between Washington and Kiev remain frosty.
Witkoff in Moscow
Ending the now 3-year long conflict between Russia and Ukraine was one of Trump’s major policy priorities during his 2024 campaign, with Trump boasting he would end the conflict “on day one”. While Trump has succeeded in reopening dialogue with Moscow thanks to Witkoff’s efforts, the Russian and Ukrainian sides remain very far apart on their conditions for peace.
Last week, Witkoff held his third face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin, which lasted nearly 5 hours. Later, Witkoff appeared on Fox News and seemed optimistic that a deal could be achieved, along with a reset in relations between Russia and the US.
Witkoff said that one of the main sticking points revolves around the fate of five Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia. Russia has occupied Crimea since 2014 and has seized control of four other Ukrainian territories since 2022.
Putin has previously sought recognition of the five territories as belonging to Russia, a position Zelensky has outright rejected.
