MW Kevin Warsh takes over as Fed chair today - after first swearing-in at White House in 40 years
By Greg Robb
Trump hosts ceremony for his Fed pick on Friday at 11 a.m. Eastern
Kevin Warsh, the incoming Federal Reserve chair, did not win the support of many Senate Democrats.
President Donald Trump is slated to host a swearing-in ceremony for incoming Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh at the White House on Friday, with the event due to take place at 11 a.m. Eastern.
This is the first time a Fed chair has been sworn in at the White House since Alan Greenspan in 1987.
The ceremony at the White House comes as Trump's goal of markedly lower interest rates seems to be slipping away.
The Iran conflict is at a stalemate, pushing up oil prices (CL.1) and stressing supply chains. At the same time, the labor market has been steady. As a result, economists have been pushing back expectations of Fed rate cuts to next year.
"Warsh inherits a committee with little appetite to cut," said Antonio Gabriel, global economist at Bank of America Securities, in a note to clients. Economists are now debating whether the Fed's next move will be a rate cut or a rate hike.
Read: 5 tests Warsh will face on his first day
Fed watchers will be listening closely Friday to see how Trump responds to a Fed that appears to be in no hurry to adjust rates. Trump on Tuesday shifted his message for the U.S. central bank, suggesting he would give some slack to Warsh after putting unprecedented pressure on the Fed for more than a year.
"I'm going to let him do what he wants to do," Trump said in an interview Tuesday. "He's a very talented guy. He's going to be fine. He's going to do a good job."
Jonathan Pingle, chief U.S. economist at UBS, noted that Warsh steps into a difficult environment for guiding policy. Over the past 30 years, Fed chairs have been able to count on support from eight "core" votes on the Fed's 12-member interest-rate committee. The core consists of Fed governors and the New York Fed president, who always has a vote on interest rates.
In the nearly 30 years until September 2024, there were only two dissents by governors. Since then, in less than two years, there have been 11 dissents.
"That's a big break from the past," Pingle said, in a note to clients.
Earlier this month, the Senate voted 54-45 to confirm Warsh to succeed Jerome Powell, whom Trump picked to replace Janet Yellen in 2017, as Fed chair. The vote was more partisan than those for prior Fed chairs. Only Sen. John Fetterman, the Pennsylvania Democrat, joined Republicans on separate votes to confirm Warsh as a Fed governor and as the central bank's chair. Democrats are skeptical that Warsh can act independently of Trump, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Democrat from Massachusetts, calling him a "sock puppet" for the president.
Victor Reklaitis and Robert Schroeder contributed.
-Greg Robb
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May 22, 2026 08:53 ET (12:53 GMT)
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