Trump said that Powell did not want to be nominated as the chairman of the Federal Reserve and reiterated that the employment data is "manipulated."

President Trump stated on Tuesday that Treasury Secretary Mnuchin told him he did not want to be nominated to replace Powell as the next chair of the Federal Reserve. Trump said in an interview, "I just asked him last night, 'Is this what you want?' Mnuchin's response was, 'No, I want to stay in my current position.' 'He's done a fantastic job, he wants to continue to do that job, so I excluded him. He doesn't want the position. He likes being the Treasury Secretary. He's doing a really good job." Trump said he is considering four candidates - including former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh and National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, but he also noted that he does not plan to make a decision quickly. Trump added, "I think both 'Kevins' are very good, and there are other people who are also very good." It is worth mentioning that Federal Reserve Governor Brainard, whose term was originally scheduled to end on January 31, 2026, unexpectedly announced her early resignation last Friday, making who will fill her position on the board a focal point of the market's attention. Brainard's successor is likely to become the next chair of the Federal Reserve, providing Trump with an opportunity to speed up the appointment of a "shadow chairman" to the Federal Reserve Board. Trump has repeatedly pressured the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates and criticized Powell on social media. Trump has accused the Federal Reserve and Powell of cutting rates too slowly and misjudging inflation. He believes the Federal Reserve's current policy of maintaining interest rates is keeping the government's debt servicing costs too high and suppressing economic growth. Although Powell did not signal a rate cut in September at last week's Federal Reserve meeting, market expectations for a rate cut quickly rose after the release of the U.S. non-farm payroll data for July last Friday. The data showed that only 73,000 jobs were added in July, far below market expectations, and the job additions in May and June were significantly revised down. This latest employment data signals weakness in the U.S. economy. As a result, the rate futures market has priced in a cut of about 64 basis points for the remainder of 2025 - bringing rate cut expectations closer to 75 basis points by the end of the year, with a 90% chance of a rate cut in September. Additionally, after the release of the U.S. non-farm payroll data for July last Friday, Trump announced the dismissal of Erica McEntee, head of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, accusing her of "manipulating employment data for political purposes." Trump's decision shocked Wall Street and raised concerns about whether Trump's actions would affect the integrity of labor statistics, which are crucial for global investors. William Beach, who served as head of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics during Trump's first term, called Trump's dismissal of McEntee "baseless" and said it set a "dangerous precedent." Despite the interviewer pointing out that former government officials stated the head of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics does not involve themselves in the details of the data and that data revisions are standard procedure, Trump reiterated on Tuesday the claim that the data is being manipulated. Trump stated, "This is purely political. This is being manipulated, smart people know it, sensible people understand it." Hassett defended Trump's decision to dismiss McEntee, stating that the process of data revisions needs to be clarified and that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics should "take a new perspective" to make its data collection process more transparent and modern. Trump, on the other hand, said that the process is "too old-fashioned and very politicized."