'I Have a Better Instinct': Donald Trump Says He Doesn't 'See' Replacing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell Powell's term ends in May 2026.

President-elect Donald Trump says he doesn't plan on replacing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell before his term ends.

Trump named Powell chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in February 2018, but the two have clashed repeatedly since. Trump criticized his pick multiple times over the Fed's policies, at one point in August 2019, tried to call for a rate cut of at least 1% himself, and said Powell had a "horrendous lack of vision."

Within days of Trump's election, reporters asked Powell if he would resign if Trump asked him to. Powell said he wouldn't.

Now, in a new interview that aired Sunday with NBC's "Meet the Press," Trump said he would not end Powell's term before it officially ends in May 2026.

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"No, I don't think so," Trump responded. "I don't see it. I think if I told him to, he would. But if I asked him to, he probably wouldn't."

The interview was Trump's first network TV interview since winning the election.

^{Donald Trump. Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images}

Related: Trump Says the U.S. President Should Have 'a Say' in Federal Reserve Decisions

Trump also said on the campaign trail that the President should have a bigger say in setting interest rates.

"I think I have a better instinct than, in many cases, people that would be on the Federal Reserve or the chairman," he said at a press conference in August.

Powell, meanwhile, is gearing up for the last Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting of the year on December 17 and 18. The meeting follows two consecutive rate cuts of 0.5% in September and 0.25% in November. Experts expect another rate cut of 0.25% in December.

Related: 'Confidence and Commitment' or 'Old Demons?' Experts Are Divided Over the Fed's Decision to Cut Interest Rates