Bullard Discusses Fed Chair Position with Bessent

(Reuters) – Former St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard revealed on Tuesday that he spoke with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week regarding the search for a new Fed chair. Bullard conveyed that he would be “happy to proceed however they want to proceed.”

President Donald Trump, a vocal critic of current Fed Chair Jerome Powell, seeks a successor aligned with his view of cutting rates. Bessent is compiling a list of candidates, which includes National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, current Fed Governor Christopher Waller, and Marc Sumerlin, a former economic adviser to President George W. Bush.

Bullard expressed his support for lower rates in a CNBC interview, suggesting that tariffs may not drive inflation but could be slowing the economy this year. He predicts the Fed will embrace this view and lower rates by a full percentage point within the next year starting in September.

He emphasized he would not be “dogmatic” about monetary policy and had advocated for significantly higher interest rates during the inflation surge of 2022 and 2023.

Bullard stated, “I’ll accept the job if we set it up for success: if we can protect the value of the dollar…that’ll give us lower interest rates over time; if we aim for low and stable inflation, (and) respect the independence of the institution under the Federal Reserve Act.”

He added, “We have to set this up for success, not for failure. If you want somebody to come into the job and fail, get somebody else; and I actually think anybody on this list would insist on that before they would take this job.”