How Kevin Hassett Became a Trump Loyalist and Fed Chair Contender

Mr. Hassett’s evolution from conservative economist to defender of the president’s economic agenda has raised questions about how he would lead the central bank.

Dec. 29, 2025Updated 10:55 a.m. ET

For years, Kevin Hassett, an economist who advised the presidential campaigns of John McCain, George W. Bush and Mitt Romney, favored classic conservative economic principles. A longtime scholar at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, he promoted the idea that free trade was the path to national prosperity and argued that more immigration was good for the economy.

But as the director of President Trump’s National Economic Council, Mr. Hassett’s policy views are barely recognizable to those who have known him for decades. These days he supports tariffs and claims they are having little impact on consumer prices. He also says deportations are healthy for a labor market that has long relied on immigrants.

“When foreign-born workers depart, then it creates jobs for people who are native-born,” Mr. Hassett said on the CBS program “Face the Nation” this month, explaining that many of those who left the labor force were illegal immigrants. “Instead of having, you know, basically illegal people come in and take jobs away from native-born Americans at low wages, we’re seeing people re-enter the labor force at high wages.”

Mr. Hassett’s ability to adjust his policy positions as needed has allowed him to rise within the president’s orbit of advisers and helped put him in pole position to be Mr. Trump’s pick for the next chair of the Federal Reserve. As one of the front-runners on Mr. Trump’s shortlist to replace Jerome H. Powell, investors and policymakers have been straining to divine what Mr. Hassett truly believes, and if he wins the job, whether he will be able to endure political pressure from the White House to cut interest rates at all costs.

The president is expected to name his Fed chair choice in early 2026, slightly later than many had expected after Mr. Trump at the end of November said he had narrowed a list of 11 contenders down to just one person.

That was presumed to be Mr. Hassett, who has since been on the defensive to allay concerns that his loyalty to the president will not hobble his ability to be an independent chair. As part of that effort, Mr. Hassett told CBS News recently that Mr. Trump would have “no weight” on interest rate decisions. But the president has made clear that he will pick only someone who supports significantly lower borrowing costs.

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