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For eight years, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s rule for dealing with Donald Trump was simple: [Don’t make eye contact](https://www.wsj.com/articles/president-trump-bashes-the-fed-this-is-how-the-fed-chief-responds-1543566589?mod=article_inline). Then, on a Sunday night in January, he decided to look the president straight in the face.
After receiving subpoenas concerning his testimony months earlier about the Fed’s building renovations, [Powell released a bold video](https://www.wsj.com/economy/central-banking/for-years-powell-avoided-fighting-trump-thats-over-27451d32?mod=article_inline) dismissing that explanation. “Those are pretexts,” he said, stone-faced, and accused Trump’s Justice Department of threatening him with an indictment because the Fed hadn’t cut interest rates as fast as the president demanded.
Powell’s gambit had its intended effect, rallying bipartisan support to the Fed, which, for now, has preserved its independence.
But even those who cheered his defiance in the skirmish aren’t sure the Fed can win a longer war against [sustained presidential pressure](https://www.wsj.com/economy/central-banking/trump-investigation-jerome-powell-next-fed-chair-b1739ede?mod=article_inline). Powell’s term as chair ends in May, and the qualities that made his stand possible don’t automatically transfer to his successor.
Trump, meanwhile, has three more years and every motive to keep finding new ways in.
Losing the war doesn’t demand a dramatic collision, such as a president who fires the Fed chair or a Congress that rewrites the Federal Reserve Act. It can happen through quiet erosion: a president who demands lower interest rates, a chair who can’t say no and few in Congress coming to the rescue.
Former Fed officials worry its independence won’t be secure until the president himself backs off. “I’m very pessimistic about whether the U.S. can avoid total partisan control of monetary policy over the remainder of Trump’s term,” said Jon Faust, who served as Powell’s senior adviser from 2018 to 2024.
He said the country was no longer shocked that Trump would bend other ostensibly apolitical institutions such as the Justice Department and the FBI to his will. “I’m through with being surprised. I think he’ll try to push it that far,” said Faust.
Powell is arguably the last bipartisan figure in Washington. He is a Republican first nominated as Fed governor by Barack Obama, elevated to chair by Trump and reappointed by Joe Biden.