There is now a short list of people who could succeed Jerome Powell as the next Federal Reserve chair, each with their own pros and cons.

They include former Fed governor Kevin Warsh, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, former World Bank president David Malpass, and current Fed governor Christopher Waller.

President Trump is expected to make his decision soon, two people close to the administration told Yahoo Finance, as he grows more impatient with Powell's wait-and-see stance on interest rates.

Powell's term as chair is not up until May 2026. Trump wants to announce a pick early as a shot across the bow at Powell, according to longtime Trump adviser Stephen Moore.

"I'd love him to resign if he wanted to," Trump added Friday, when prodded by reporter about whether he wanted the chairman to resign. "He's done a lousy job."

Here’s a closer look at the potential contenders:

There was a period earlier in 2025 when Warsh was viewed as the favorite to take over Powell's job.

He already has a lot of experience navigating inside the central bank. He served as Fed governor from 2006 until 2011 and became former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke’s liaison to Wall Street during the chaos of the 2008 financial crisis.

He is also a known figure to Trump, who interviewed him for the Fed chair post eight years ago before deciding on Powell.

Trump spoke to Warsh in February and March about replacing Powell, according to the Wall Street Journal, but Warsh advised the president against any such action until Powell’s term is up in May 2026.

He has been critical of the Fed as of late. He gave an April 25 speech in Washington, D.C., in which he said that its "current wounds are largely self-inflicted" and called for a "strategic reset" to ease a loss of credibility and damage to the Fed's standing.

In an earlier op-ed in the Wall Street Journal this January, Warsh predicted the Fed would try to blame high inflation on Trump and said he believed that any inflationary effect of tariff policies would likely be of smaller magnitude than the disinflationary influence of deregulation and spending cuts.

"In my time as a governor at the Fed, we would look through one-off price changes," he said, a view of how the central bank should act on tariffs that has been echoed by the White House.

But past statements from Warsh also suggest he could be hawkish on the issue of inflation, which could become a concern for the White House as it pushes for lower rates. One person close to the administration said that the president is souring on Warsh.