Kevin Warsh nomination may struggle to deliver Trump’s sought rate cuts

President Trump nominated Kevin M. Warsh to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve on Jan. 30, 2026, praising him as “central casting,” saying he would “go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen” and writing that he “will never let you down,” the article reports. The article says Mr.

Trump wants substantially lower borrowing costs, but the path to the roughly 1 percent rate he desires is “riddled with roadblocks.” Officials at the Fed this week held rates steady in the 3.5 percent to 3.75 percent range, and Jerome H. Powell has accused a Justice Department criminal inquiry into his testimony about a Fed renovation of being a pretext to coerce the central bank.

Mr. Warsh’s reputation could limit how far he can move policy: to be credible as chair he would have to avoid decisions inconsistent with incoming data or that risk undermining confidence in the Fed’s commitment to low and stable inflation, the article says. Dennis Lockhart, who overlapped with Mr.

Warsh at the Fed, said Mr. Warsh will have to “thread the needle” between the president’s wishes and institutional processes. Resistance to rate cuts could come from inside and outside the central bank. The article notes the F.O.M.C. votes as a 12‑person committee and names at least three regional presidents — Neel T.

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