WSJ What’s News - Trump Shakes Up Expectations on Who Will Be the Next Fed Chair

Episode Date: January 16, 2026

P.M. Edition for Jan. 16. President Trump signaled today that he may keep National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett in his current job. WSJ chief economics correspondent Nick Timiraos discusses where that leaves the contest for the next chair of the Federal Reserve. Plus, OpenAI will start testing ads in ChatGPT as it seeks new sources of revenue. And earlier this week Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said that Americans can save money if they eat according to the government’s new dietary guidelines, including having dinner for $3. Journal reporter Jared Mitovich tried it out for himself. Alex Ossola hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Think about this as a reality TV show, like The Apprentice Fed Edition. And so today is just another episode in this drama of who Donald Trump is going to pick for probably the most important personnel job for the rest of his term. Plus, ads are coming to chat GPT as OpenAI looks for fresh revenue. And Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rawlins says you can have a good dinner for $3. Our reporters, check that out. It's Friday, January 16th. I'm Alex O'Sullough for the Wall Street Journal.

This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. The contest for the next chair of the Federal Reserve, what you may recall as the battle between the two Kevin's, is far from over. Today, President Trump signaled that he may want to keep National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett in his current job. Speaking at a health care event at the White House today, Trump addressed Hassett, who was seated in the front row. You're fantastic on television today. I actually want to keep you where you are if you want to know the truth. Kevin Hassett is so good. I'm saying, wait a minute. If I move them, these Fed guys, certainly the one we have now, they don't talk much. I would lose you. It's a serious concern to me. Fed Chair Jerome Powell's term is up in May.

For more on where the contest to succeed him stands, I'm joined now by WSJ Chief Economics correspondent Nick Timoros. So, Nick, at certain points towards the end of last year, Hasse it seemed like maybe the frontrunner. Today we hear from Trump. Maybe that's not true anymore. Where does that leave the other Kevin in the running, former Fed governor Kevin Warsh? And how up in the air is this decision? Well, think about this as a reality TV show, like The Apprentice Fed Edition. And so today is just another episode in this drama of who Donald Trump is going to pick for probably the most important personnel job for the rest of his term.

He's been saying he likes the two Kevin's, but today he indicated that he thought maybe Kevin Hassett should stay in the White House. And so that naturally would lead everybody to think that it's now the other Kevin, Kevin Warsh, who was a Fed governor 15 years ago in the poll position. But just as six weeks ago, everybody thought this was a done deal for Kevin Hassett, it's Donald Trump. Things can change. Trump always keeps us guessing, and this is no different. Are the other candidates still serious contenders? There was Fed Governor Christopher Waller and BlackRock executive Rick Reeder. Look, if you've interviewed with Donald Trump for a job and he hasn't picked anybody for the job, even if you're not the frontrunner, you still have a chance because he's,

could change his mind again. So initially, they had suggested this would be an October-November decision. Most recently, the timing has shifted to the next few weeks. Jay Powell, the current Fed chair, his seat runs until May 15th. You would probably want to do it two or three months ahead of that so that the Senate can have plenty of time to do the confirmation. You write that the criminal investigation into Powell has thrown a twist into this search for his replacement. What the issues that have come up on Capitol Hill? So there are a lot of people who today analysts want to connect the backlash to the probe by the DOJ and to the Fed to Hassett falling out of favor. And the reason for that is pretty

simple. Kevin Hassett had been seen as the frontrunner because of his closeness to Trump, that Trump wants someone who's loyal. But the probe creates a problem, which is nobody likes this on Capitol Hill, they think it underscores the idea that Donald Trump is going to compromise the independence of the Fed. And so now there's much more attention being placed by the Senate that's going to have to confirm the next Fed chair on who this person might be. And so the thinking there would be, maybe it'll be easier to get somebody confirmed if they have a little bit more distance and can hold up the idea that they'll be independent. And how does this jostling over who the Fed Chair maybe affect perceptions of interest rate

decisions? Well, it doesn't really change too much with either of the two Kevin's. Maybe people think Kevin Hass it would be a little bit more likely than Kevin Warsh to push for rate cuts. But most analysts who are watching this think that at least in 2026, both men would try to secure a couple more interest rate cuts since that's what Donald Trump has made so clear that he wants. The question really then would be about, well, what happens in 2027 and 28? That was WSJ.J.J. Chief Economics correspondent, Nick Timmeros. Thanks, Nick. Thanks for having me.

In other news from the White House today, President Trump will issue a plan next week for letting Americans tap their 401k retirement accounts for a down payment on a home. That's according to Kevin Hassett, who we were just talking about, who was speaking on Fox business today. It's the latest affordability proposal floated by the White House. Right now, first-time home buyers who were under age 59 and a half can take up to $10,000 out of their IRAs without a penalty, though there are different rules for other retirement accounts. It's not clear how Trump's new plan would be different from existing options.

Turning to foreign affairs, President Trump threatened to impose tariffs on countries that oppose his efforts to take control of Greenland. He discussed it during that same health care event at the White House this morning. I may put a tariff on countries if they don't go along with Greenland because we need Greenland for national security, so I may do that. Trump said that owning Greenland is vital for America's national security. and the White House hasn't ruled out using force to take the Danish territory. Several European countries have sent small numbers of troops to Greenland this week, as part of an effort to deter U.S. interest in the island.

And with a decision on military action apparently on pause, the U.S. has turned to economic pressure on Iran. It placed new sanctions on officials it said were responsible for the crackdown on nationwide protests. Human rights groups estimate that the death toll has risen past 2,600 people. The director of the CIA traveled to Caracas yesterday to meet with acting President Delcy Rodriguez. It's the first known visit by a senior U.S. official to Venezuela since the ouster of Nicholas Maduro earlier this month. According to a U.S. official, CIA director John Radcliffe told Rodriguez that the Trump administration wants to strengthen its working relationship with the government and discussed potential opportunities for economic collaboration. Rodriguez has cooperated with the Trump administration's demands, but she's kept up the nationalist rhetoric.

at home. In a speech yesterday, she said Venezuela would continue to do business with U.S. adversaries. And leaders of the Oglala Sioux tribe say that federal agents have arrested several Native American men, all of whom are U.S. citizens amid the immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis. A homeland security spokesperson said the agency has not been able to verify the claim. Coming up, a piece of chicken, some broccoli, a tortilla, and one other thing for $3? Our reporter did it. That's after the break. What does leadership really look like? On the power of advice, a new podcast series from Capital Group,

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little changed, and major U.S. indexes ended the day slightly lower. The Dow had the biggest drop, falling 0.2%. OpenAI plans to start testing ads in chat GPT, a big shift in its business strategy as it tries to grow revenue. OpenAI says the ads won't influence what chat GPT says, and that there won't be ads when the chatbot's dealing with sensitive topics like mental health and politics. The company also says user conversations won't be sold to advertisers. News Corp, the journal's owner, has a content licensing partnership with OpenAI. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court said it would take up an appeal from Bayer about litigation over Roundup, the most widely used wheat killer in the world.

The companies argued that consumers shouldn't be able to sue it for failing to warn about cancer risks because U.S. federal regulators have determined that Roundup's main chemical ingredient doesn't require a cancer warning. If Bayer wins, it could help lead to it. the dismissal of thousands of cases against the company, litigation that has cost it billions of dollars. And Mitsubishi has agreed to acquire a U.S. shale gas business for $5.2 billion in the Japanese company's biggest deal ever. Mitsubishi's CEO said owning U.S. assets was important for Japan's energy security, as supply has been unstable because of geopolitical events in Venezuela, Iran, and Ukraine. And finally, how much does a nutritious dinner cost?

According to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rawlins, it should only be a few bucks. Earlier this week, Rollins said on the News Nation TV network that Americans could actually save money while eating, according to the government's new dietary guidelines that emphasize protein. We've run over 1,000 simulations. It can cost around $3 a meal for a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, you know, corn tortilla, and one other thing. Two intrepid journal reporters put this claim to the test, and found out. it was possible to make a $3 dinner, if not necessarily all that delicious. WSJ reporter Jared Midevich is joining me now from Boston.

So, Jared, how did you and your colleague Rachel Wolfe go about starting to address this question? Yeah, so the first thing we did was think about what is the Agriculture Secretary telling us to purchase. We also wanted to make sure we were consulting the Agriculture Department's dietary guidance. Rachel and I decided to hit the two grocery stores where we could find closest buy. We both tried to find boneless chicken breasts for as cheap as we could. I got Purdue. We both found flour tortillas. We couldn't find corn in either of our stores.

And then we found broccoli. And what was your one other thing? My one other thing was Vermont cheddar cheese. Tried to stick with New England flavors. The department does advise us to have dairy with our meal. We were trying to make sure we hit all the groups, right? Vegetables, protein, dairy, and grains. So the ingredients that I purchased to put this three,

meal together, ended up totaling me $26. Portioning it out to follow the secretary's guidance did get us to a total of $2.91. I wouldn't say it was the most failing meal. I wouldn't say it was maybe the most flavorful, but that wasn't really our goal. It was trying to see

what is the meal that the secretary and the new guidance are advising? What does that actually look like and taste like? So is this something you're going to do on the regular now? Well, I do have some leftovers, so I'm probably going to keep parceling it out and seeing if I can really live the full Brooke Rowland's $3 meal lifestyle.

But no, I think it's definitely interesting to make sure these claims checked. It was an interesting experiment. But as possible as it is, it's not always realistic. If you're time limited, limited by your geography, how close you are to a store, and that's something of the secretary mentioned, too, that while they're promoting more protein or healthier food, they're saying cognizant of the fact that they need to make that food more accessible to lower-income households in particular.

That was WSJ reporter, Jared Midevich. Thanks, Jared. Thank you. And that's what's news for this week. Tomorrow you can look out for our weekly markets wrap up, What's News and Markets. Then on Sunday, we'll be discussing how China's approach to AI technology is threatening Silicon Valley. That's in What's News Sunday.

We're off Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and we'll be back with our regular show on Tuesday morning. Today's show is produced by Pierre Bienname, with supervising producer Tali Arbell. Michael Laval wrote our theme music. Jessica Fenton is our technical manager. Isha El Muslibe is our development. producer. Chris Zinsley is our deputy editor, and Falana Patterson is the Wall Street Journal's head of

news audio. I'm Alex Osala. Thanks for listening. Millions of Americans use credit cards to purchase goods every day. The Durbin Marshall credit card mandates put the secure transactions you rely on at risk, leaving you vulnerable to hackers and foreign cyber criminals that want your day. hackers win. You lose. Guard your card before it's too late. Tell Congress your data security is not for sale and oppose the Durbin Marshall credit card mandates. Paid for by Electronic Payments Coalition.