Trump’s Fed Appointments Could Shift Monetary Policy—But Maybe Not Right Away

President-elect Donald Trump has expressed a desire for more control over monetary policy. Getting there could take a while.

Trump said this weekend he won’t seek to remove Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell from his position before his term ends, but that doesn’t mean that the future president won’t have an opportunity to influence the central bank. Several positions on the Fed’s Board of Governors—which votes on monetary policy and oversees the central banking system—will open during Trump’s four years in office.

Trump’s first chance to add a new governor, however, likely won’t come immediately. Assuming no members resign before their term expires, his first opportunity to appoint a new member to the Fed’s board would come in early 2026.

What Are the Rules Around Federal Reserve Appointments?

Presidents can appoint new members to the Federal Reserve Board once a governor’s 14-year term expires, subject to approval by the Senate. Two of the seven current members are nominees from Trump’s first term: Govs. Michelle Bowman and Christoper Waller.

Governors are only one part of the voting body that makes up the Fed’s policy-setting committee. The rest of the voters in the Federal Reserve Open Markets Committee (FOMC) are a rotating slate of regional bank presidents, who are hired by the individual banks themselves and then approved by the Board of Governors.

“The biggest way the president could influence the Fed is through his appointments, his or her appointments, to the Federal Reserve Board,” Wells Fargo chief economist Jay Bryson said in a briefing before the election. “But you know, if it were seen as a real crony or just a political sort of appointment, my sense is that there’s still enough institutional sort of senators there that may not vote to be able to do that.”

Whose Term Is Expiring?

Gov. Adriana Kugler’s term expires in January 2026. Kugler completed the term originally held by Lael Brainard, who resigned from the Fed to serve as director of President Joe Biden’s National Economic Council. Since Kugler assumed an unfinished term, she could be reappointed and serve a full 14 years.

Trump’s next opportunity to influence the Federal Reserve is also likely his most important: shifting the leadership. Chair and vice-chair terms are shorter than a member’s full governor term, so those positions often need appointing before a governor rolls off the board.

For example, Jerome Powell’s term as chair of the Federal Reserve ends in May 2026. However, his term on the board lasts through 2028. It has been 76 years since a chairperson has finished their full term after their chairmanship expired.

“I would just say I will certainly serve to the end of my to end of my chair term, and that’s really all I’ve decided,” Powell said at an event in November in Dallas.

Trump will also have opportunities to affect policy when Fed Vice Chair Michael Barr’s four-year leadership term expires in July 2026 and Gov. Phillip Jefferson’s term as vice chair ends in September 2027. Even if the positions’ current occupants stay on the board to complete their terms as governors, their successors in leadership could be influential in setting the direction of monetary policy and expressing it to the public.