Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz, asserted Tuesday that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell should resign for the sake of the central bank and its independence.
El-Erian, also president of Queen's College, Cambridge, broke ranks with the Wall Street consensus in calling for Powell to step down, a move he said would help "safeguard the Fed's operational autonomy."
El-Erian laid out his reasoning in the aftermath of continued scrutiny of Powell's performance by the Trump administration, including President Donald Trump himself and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who said Monday that "the entire Federal Reserve institution" needs to be examined.
"This morning, U.S. government criticism of both Federal Reserve Chair Powell and the institution itself has broadened to include 'mission creep' and the effectiveness of other officials," El-Erian said in a post to X early Tuesday. "If Chair Powell's objective is to safeguard the Fed's operational autonomy (which I deem vital), then he should resign."
El-Erian repeated his claim in an interview with Axios, saying that Powell, whose term as chair expires in May 2026, would be a "lame duck anyway" after the end of the year, when his replacement is named.
"I recognize this isn't the consensus view, which favors him staying until the end of his tenure in May. Nor is it a first best, which is simply not attainable. Yet, it's better than what is playing out now — growing and broadening threats to Fed independence — and will undoubtedly increase should he remain in office," El-Erian said in his post to X.
Further, El-Erian said Powell would have been terminated by now if he were running a company, given his policy record and allegations of an insider trading scandal that happened on his watch at the Fed. Two senior officials resigned in January 2022 after media reports months earlier uncovered large financial transactions that led to new rules barring senior officials from trading or purchasing securities.
"If he was CEO of a company, he would have lost his job," El-Erian told Axios.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.