A
report
published
late
Thursday
by

The
Wall
Street
Journal
said
that
allies
of
former
president
and
presumptive
2024
Republican
nominee

Donald
Trump
are
working
behind
the
scenes
on
policies
that
could
make
the


Federal
Reserve
less
independent,
if
Trump
were
reelected
this
fall.

Former
Trump
administration
officials
have
been
discussing
several
proposals,
ranging
from
“incremental
policy
changes
to
a
long-shot
assertion
that
the
president
himself
should
play
a
role
in
setting
interest
rates,”
the
outlet
reported.

The
group
believes
that
Trump
should
be
consulted
on
any
decisions
involving
benchmark
interest
rates,
that
the
White
House
should
be
allowed
to
review
Fed
regulatory
proposals,
and
that
the

U.S.
Department
of
the
Treasury
should
be
given
wider
latitude
to
police
the
Fed.

The
Journal
noted
that
it
couldn’t
determine
whether
Trump
had
approved
of
these
plans
or
was
aware
of
them,
although
unnamed
sources
“believe
the
work
has
received
the
blessing
of
the
former
president.”

Two
Republican
lawmakers
publicly
opposed
the
idea
of
the
president
becoming
more
influential
in
monetary
policy
and
indicated
their
desire
to
keep
the
central
bank
relatively
free
from
constraints.

“Given
their
charge,
their
independence
is
critical
to
doing
it
in
an
unbiased,
nonpolitical
way,”
Sen. Kevin
Cramer of
North
Dakota
told
the
Journal.
“There’s
a
reason
that
there’s
not
just
one
decision
maker
—
that
there
are
safeguards
built
into
a
board
of
governors.”

“I
have
to
think
about
the
Fed
for
the
next
50
years,
not
the
next
four,
and
independence
is
important,”
Sen.
Thom
Tillis
of
North
Carolina
added.

The
Fed
has
been
under
fire
for
the
past
two
years
after
it
began
raising
interest
rates
to
combat

40-year
high
inflation.
The
Federal
Open
Market
Committee
(FOMC)
approved
11
increases
between
March
2022
and
July
2023,
with
the

benchmark
rate
rising
from
near
zero
to
a
range
of
5.25%
to
5.5%.

Trump
has
been
a

staunch
critic
of
interest
rate
policies
in
the
past.
During
his
first
term
in
office,
Trump
reportedly
sought
to
remove
Jerome
Powell,
whom
he

appointed
as
Fed
chair
in
2018.
Powell’s
current
term
as
chair
is
set
to
end
in
May
2026
and
Trump
has
publicly
stated
that,
if
he
returns
to
the
White
House,

he
would
not
reappoint
Powell.

“Lawyers
who
have
studied
the
issue
believe
the
president
lacks
the
power
to
fire
Fed
governors
over
a
policy
dispute,”
the
Journal
stated
in
its
report.
“Whether
the
president
has
the
authority
to
demote
the
chair
and
replace
him
or
her
with
a
sitting
governor
isn’t
clear.
When
he
was
in
office,
Trump
privately
contemplated
dismissing
Powell
but
never
did
so,
in
part
because
his
advisers
told
him
he
didn’t
have
the
authority.”

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