WASHINGTON, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Shifting gears from previous calls for the Fed head's ouster, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell need not resign.
"I know Chair Powell. There's nothing that tells me that he should step down right now. He's been a good public servant," U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox Business in an interview. "His term ends in May. If he wants to see that through, I think he should. If he wants to leave early, I think he should."
This comes on the heels of Trump's calls for Powell to be fired, as the U.S. president has expressed displeasure that the Fed chief has not lowered interest rates.
However, Bessent on the same day reiterated calls for a review of the Fed's operations.
"Everything else that the Fed has done over the years has just grown and grown and grown, and this is what happens when you don't have oversight," he said.
The latest White House jab against Powell was heavy criticism of the central bank's 2.5 billion U.S. dollar renovation project of its headquarters, which has seen several cost overruns.
Also on Tuesday, Trump said Powell had kept interest rates too high and would be out in eight months.
"I think he's done a bad job, but he's going to be out pretty soon anyway. In eight months, he'll be out," Trump said.
Next week, the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets interest rates, is slated to meet, but is expected to hold interest rates at their current levels.
Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua: "The administration realizes they cannot easily dispatch Powell for the next few months. But his term ends next spring and Trump can announce his replacement choice well in advance of that date."
"So the thinking is they can undermine Powell and move around him in the closing months of his tenure," West said.
Dean Baker, a senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said Trump has decided he doesn't want to fire Powell because "he doesn't want the markets to freak out, as they would if they thought Trump was about to fire him." ■