President Trump is set to interview another candidate for Federal Reserve chair, Fed governor Christopher Waller, on Wednesday, according to people familiar with the matter.
Officials have cautioned that the process is fast-moving and that meetings can always be postponed or canceled as the president continues to deliberate.
Trump last week interviewed former Fed governor Kevin Warsh, who he said is at the top of his list for the job along with Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council.
Waller was named to the Fed’s board by Trump and confirmed by the Senate at the end of Trump’s term in 2020. He has become a leading internal advocate for rate cuts this year. The Fed cut rates at its last three meetings by a quarter point. Waller dissented in favor of a rate cut in July, the last time the central bank held rates steady.
The White House didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
Among those candidates being considered for the job, Waller ranked as the top choice of economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal in October.
Waller is viewed favorably on Wall Street because he has laid out some of the most intellectually consistent arguments for rate cuts this year and is seen as someone who might be able to navigate internal divisions. Several of his arguments for cutting rates have been adopted by Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who has faced unusually broad internal opposition from other officials more concerned about inflation risks.
But Waller is seen as a heavy underdog because he lacks the personal relationship with Trump that both Warsh and Hassett enjoy, and because some people close to Trump are upset that Waller voted for a half-point rate cut in September 2024—before Trump became president—which they viewed as disloyal.
Trump remains extremely upset over his decision in 2017 to name Powell as Fed chair. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal last week said he wants to be more careful this time because he was given a “bad recommendation” by his then-Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin.
Waller is set to speak on the economic outlook in New York on Wednesday morning.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that Trump was likely to announce his decision in early January and that he would interview one or two candidates this week and next week.
“It’s at the president’s pace,” Bessent said in an interview on the Fox Business Network. “He has been very, very deliberate.”
Bessent also offered a glimpse into Trump’s interviewing style, saying the president has been direct with candidates about their views on Fed policy, the central bank’s structure, and the path forward for the economy.
“In one of the interviews, the president did—as only he can do—he really came to first principles with one of the candidates,” Bessent said, recounting how Trump questioned why the Fed employed so many Ph.D. economists.
“There wasn’t a good answer,” Bessent added.
Bessent described both Warsh and Hassett as “very, very qualified.” He pointed to other Fed chairs who had previously worked in the White House in defending Hassett against recent criticism that the longtime economic adviser to Trump might be too close to the president to serve independently in the job.
“Kevin Hassett is an eminently qualified Ph.D. economist with a great background,” Bessent said.
Write to Brian Schwartz at brian.schwartz@wsj.com and Nick Timiraos at Nick.Timiraos@wsj.com