Hassett responds to “special intervention”: the independence of the Federal Reserve is the bottom line, and policy decisions will be based on data

The Zhitong Finance App learned that White House National Economic Committee Chairman Kevin Hassett said that if elected to lead the Federal Reserve, he will consider US President Trump's policy opinions, but the central bank's interest rate decisions will remain independent.

White House chief economic adviser Hassett said on Sunday that the President “has a very firm and well-founded opinion on the actions we should take.”

“But ultimately, the Federal Reserve's role is to maintain independence and work with members of the Federal Reserve Council and the Federal Open Market Committee to reach a collective consensus on what level interest rates should be at,” he said.

Hassett was responding to questions about Trump's remarks last Friday. Trump said at the time that he should be able to make suggestions on interest rates set by the Federal Reserve.

Trump and his senior advisors have been urging Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell to lower interest rates for months, while also weighing his own choice to replace Powell — who will end his term in May next year.

Hassett is seen as a popular candidate for this position, but Trump also met with former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Walsh last week. In an interview last Friday, Trump listed the two as his top candidates to lead the Federal Reserve.

“We will soon have an excellent Federal Reserve leader who would like to see interest rates fall,” Trump said at the White House holiday reception last Sunday. But we're still battling high interest rates.”

Hassett tried to show last Sunday that Trump is only one of many experts to consult; in the end, he can only provide advice.

Even as Chairman of the Federal Reserve, “I'm happy to talk to the President every day until we both go see God because it's really interesting to talk to him,” Hassett said.

However, he refuted the claim that “the president's opinion will have the same weight as the voting members of the Federal Open Market Committee”, saying that policy makers are free to reject the president's opinion and “cast a different vote.”

“No, no, he won't have any weight,” Hassett said. His opinion only has weight if it is correct and based on data.”