“Bessent is trying to show Trump there is a path to get what he wants without unnecessary market turmoil,” said Stephen Myrow, managing partner at Beacon Policy Advisors. That path would involve allowing Powell to finish out his term as chair and stepping down from the Federal Reserve board once his chairmanship is up.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday that he will meet his Chinese counterpart next week in Stockholm and discuss what is likely to be an extension of an August 12 deadline for a deal to avert sharply higher tariffs.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Federal Reserve's vital independence on monetary policy is threatened by its "mandate creep" into non-policy areas and he called on the U.S. central bank to conduct an exhaustive review of those operations.

The Journal on Sunday published a report claiming that Bessent had recently made his case to Trump against Powell’s removal, citing potential effects on the economy, the legal challenges such a decision would face,