President Donald Trump said Thursday that he is appointing his economic adviser Stephen Miran to be Federal Reserve governor, filling a position vacated by Adriana Kugler when she unexpectedly resigned.

Miran, currently the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, “has been with me from the beginning of my Second Term, and his expertise in the World of Economics is unparalleled — He will do an outstanding job,” Trump said in a post to Truth Social.

Recommended Stories

• Trump's cuts to immigration could be dampening employment numbers
• Fact check: Trump’s claim that pre-election jobs revisions helped Democrats
• How a former staffer got the Fed's renovation cost overruns on Trump's radar

The term for which Miran is being appointed expires at the beginning of 2026. Trump said that the White House would look for a permanent replacement for after then.

Miran, a PhD economist, drew attention last year for writing a paper for Hudson Bay Capital outlining a case for the aggressive use of tariffs to restructure the global trading system.

Kugler, 55, first assumed office at the Fed board in 2023 and her term was set to expire in January 2026. She will return to Georgetown University as a professor in the fall, according to the Fed.

The opening, which came as a surprise, gave Trump the opportunity to fill the vacancy Fed board early. He has been strongly pushing for the Fed to cut interest rates, so his new pick’s thoughts on the matter were surely a major factor in the nomination.

Trump has has repeatedly admonished Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets interest rates, in recent months. Kugler consistently voted with Powell and the majority of FOMC participants to keep rates steady this year.

Some in the Trump administration have pushed the president to fire Powell, although the move would be legally dubious and would certainly get tied up in the courts. But Powell’s term is up next year, making it more likely that Trump waits it out and waits to nominate.

But it is worth noting that interest rates won’t just go down right away when Trump appoints someone new. That is because interest rate decisions come down to a majority vote of the 12-member FOMC.

During the last FOMC meeting in July, Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller, preferred a rate cut and dissented. That marked the first time two governors have dissented since 1993.

As of this week, reports indicate that there are four names are currently circulating as possible successors to Powell: National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett, former Fed governor Kevin Warsh, Waller, and Bowman.