Earlier this week, President Donald Trump said “Powell's termination cannot come fast enough”—referring to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell after he said that tariffs complicate his job to maintain stable prices and low unemployment. Commentators across the political spectrum expressed concern that Trump firing Powell would send the markets into turmoil. 

From the Right: “The problem for Mr. Trump is that Mr. Powell spoke the truth,” The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board (Lean Right bias) wrote. “The President often talks in private of firing the Fed Chairman, who wouldn’t go quietly. This would tee up a protracted legal fight, with market turmoil to match as investors awaited a Supreme Court ruling on the legality of dismissal. That’s the last fight Mr. Trump needs now. If the President wants faster growth and less market turmoil, he can help by ending his tariff campaign.”

From the Left: “Investors are already dumping Treasury debt in anticipation of potential Fed politicization. If Mr. Trump were to gain direct control of monetary policy, global financial markets would enter a state of shock as investors lost confidence in the central bank’s commitment to price stability,” a New York Times (Left) writer added. 

From the Center: A Reuters (Center) writer said, “What makes the situation especially dicey is that even though investors are highly aware of this risk, they can't truly price it in. The term premium has risen, but not anywhere close to where it would likely soar to if the Fed's independence were truly called into question. The risk is too monumental, and the range of potential outcomes is too broad.”

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