Adriana Kugler, announced by the U.S. Federal Reserve in a statement, “submitted her resignation letter to President Trump and will return to teach at Georgetown University this fall”.
Kugler, appointed to her position in 2023 at the behest of President Joe Biden, was expected to serve until the end of January 2026.
Her resignation will take effect on August 8.
Questioned by the press before departing for a weekend at his golf course in New Jersey, Trump, who has pressured the Fed to lower interest rates, said he is “very happy” to have the opportunity to replace the governor.
Neither Kugler’s statement nor her letter to Trump explained the reasons for the early departure.
“I will always be proud of the important work I accomplished as a Fed governor,” Adriana Kugler wrote in her letter to Donald Trump, released to the press.
She concluded by thanking Jerome Powell “for his steadfast commitment to the Federal Reserve and the American people”.
Contacted by AFP, the Fed declined to comment.
Earlier this week, Adriana Kugler was unable to attend the Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting or vote on interest rates.
A central bank spokesperson reported it was for a “personal reason”.
The Republican President, who has consistently advocated for interest rate cuts, now has the opportunity to bring in a new FOMC member, earlier than expected, who will have one vote among twelve.
The candidate’s appointment will require Senate confirmation, where Republicans hold the majority.
The Fed and its chairman, Jerome Powell, have resisted Donald Trump’s ongoing pressure to lower interest rates.
Unsurprisingly, the central bank kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged this week, at the level it has been since December, in the range of 4.25% to 4.50%.
Most analysts anticipated a rate cut at the FOMC meeting in September, but there is now more uncertainty about the decision, according to the CME’s analyst opinion observatory.
Of the 112 FOMC members, two voted this week against maintaining the rate at the current level, a level of dissent not seen in over 30 years.
Jerome Powell is expected to chair the Fed until May 2026 and, theoretically, could remain in the regulator as a simple governor until January 2028.
Trump has expressed his intention to hasten his departure, and on Friday, in a message on his Truth Social network, he urged other Fed officials to “TAKE CONTROL” if Jerome Powell “CONTINUES TO REFUSE” to cut rates.
Powell once again defended the institution’s independence this week, in the name of the “public interest” and to prevent politicians from “influencing rates for electoral purposes, for example”.
