No ‘sock puppet’? What to expect from Trump’s pick for the Fed chair

April 22, 2026 — 12:15pm

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The question of whether Kevin Warsh will do what Donald Trump wants if he becomes chairman of the US Federal Reserve Board was always going to central at his confirmation hearing on Tuesday.

What did we learn? He denied, repeatedly, that he would be a “sock puppet” for Trump, saying that the US president had never pressured him to lower rates if he were confirmed as chair.

“The president never asked me to predetermine, commit, fix, decide on any interest rates in any of our discussions, nor would I ever agree to do so,” Warsh said. “The president never generally or specifically instructed me ... suggested I should commit to any interest path whatsoever.”

Trump was asked last week in an interview with Fox Business, whether he expected interest rates to fall this year.

“When Kevin gets in, I do, yeah,” he responded.

Just before Warsh’s hearing, he said he would be “disappointed” if Warsh didn’t reduce interests once he had been confirmed as the new central bank chair.

‘When Kevin gets in, I do [expect rates to fall this year], yeah.’Donald Trump in a Fox Business interview

During the selection process to choose the successor to the incumbent chair, Trump’s bête noire Jerome Powell, the president made it very clear that he wouldn’t appoint anyone who wasn’t going to lower rates. He also expected his nominee to consult with him on rate decisions.

Warsh, however, repeatedly denied he had made any deal with Trump to gain the nomination. In his opening statement, he said he didn’t believe the operational independence of monetary policy was threatened when elected officials, including the president, stated their views on interest rates.

“I’ve heard his view on interest rates, and it sounded very similar to me to every other president in economic history,” he said.

The difference between Trump and other presidents, however, is that where others might have articulated their wish for lower rates,........

© The Sydney Morning Herald