President-elect Donald Trump used his first broadcast interview since the election to promise a fast-moving and disruptive administration that could shake up American and global business, including raising tariffs and cutting immigration.
But for all the talk of breaking things, Trump told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he wouldn’t follow through with some of the moves that markets have feared, including trying to fire or undermine Jay Powell, the Fed chair.
“No, I don’t think so,” Trump told NBC’s Kristen Welker about seeking to remove Powell before his term ends in May 2026. That said, the president-elect wasn’t exactly clear in all his comments: “I think if I told him to, he would,” Trump said of asking him to go, before adding, “But if I asked him to, he probably wouldn’t.”
For the record, Powell has said he doesn’t think the president has the legal authority to dismiss him and that he wouldn’t leave if asked. At the DealBook Summit last week, the Fed chair also said that he expected to have a “fine” relationship with Scott Bessent, Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary, who had floated naming a sort of shadow Fed chair.
Other things Trump said he wouldn’t do: raise the age for Social Security or Medicare, or cut them as part of Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s government-efficiency initiatives. He also said he wouldn’t limit access to abortion pills, and said he’d work with Democrats to avoid deporting the roughly 700,000 immigrants known as Dreamers.
But he said he still plans to do a lot:
Trump said he would impose sweeping tariffs, despite warnings that it could undercut his pledge to bolster the economy. That said, he admitted that he “can’t guarantee” that American families won’t pay more if they’re brought about.
He also promised to end birthright citizenship, the provision in the Constitution guaranteeing American citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil. (How that would happen outside of a constitutional amendment is unclear and would meet legal challenges in any case.)
Trump also said that while he wouldn’t personally order the prosecution of perceived political enemies including Liz Cheney, he expected his administration to take up such cases.
And he suggested that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, would examine a debunked link between vaccines and autism.
Trump expects business leaders to go along for the ride. He told Welker that he’s having dinner with Jeff Bezos, the Amazon executive chair and founder of Blue Origin, a rocket company. (Bezos told Andrew at the DealBook Summit that he’s “very optimistic” about a second Trump administration.)
We are having trouble retrieving the article content.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.betroyale