Trump is poised to put more big stamps on the economy
The president said he will announce a new statistician and Fed governor in the coming days. Trump's new tariffs are also set to take effect
President Donald Trump speaks to members of the press during a Cabinet Meeting at the White House on July 08, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images).
President Donald Trump has more chances to leave his fingerprints on the U.S. economy in the next few days.
He has said he will publicly announce two key appointments for historically non-partisan government bodies in the coming days. Trump may also escalate his trade war and impose a battery ram of tariffs on allies and adversaries alike.
New statistics chief
On Sunday, Trump said he’d be appointing a new government statistician “sometime in the next three, four days” after booting the last one.
Two days earlier, Trump ousted the Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer over the release of a jobs report that displayed an economy under increasing strain from tariffs. He claimed without evidence the data was false. “I thought her numbers were wrong," he said shortly after announcing the firing in a social media post.
Experts across the ideological spectrum argued Trump’s abrupt dismissal of McEntarfer could undermine trust in the government’s data going forward. It even drew criticism from some rank-and-file Republicans, with Sen. Cynthia Lummis calling it “ a little impetuous” while speaking to Quartz on Friday.
A new Federal Reserve governor
The president also said he’d soon be unveiling his pick to replace outgoing Federal Reserve Board Gov. Adriana Kugler. “I have a couple of people in mind,” Trump said. “I’ll be announcing that probably over the next couple of days.
Kugler on Friday announced her surprise resignation months ahead of her term expiring in January. She was absent and didn’t cast a vote at the Fed meeting last week where the central bank decided to leave interest rates. Kugler, though, delivered a speech last month in which she said she believed the Fed shouldn’t cut interest rates “for some time,” at least until the effect of the tariffs on the economy were better known.
Aug. 7 tariff deadline
A double-digit wave of tariffs is set to go in effect on Thursday for U.S. trade partners, unless they strike agreements in quick succession with the Trump administration. A 10% import tax will serve as the bare minimum for nations that were not assigned a rate. Countries that the U.S. runs a trade deficit with will be hit with a 15% tariff.
The Trump administration believes the spate of import taxes won’t unsettle financial markets. "For the most part, the tariff uncertainty period is behind us," NEC Director Kevin Hassett said on CNBC. "We're more or less not done, because the president's always open for business, but I think that we found a sweet spot."