Fed Reserve Governor — On Short List to Replace Jerome Powell — Bluntly Calls Trump Tariffs a Tax on Growth

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller may have just talked himself out of President Donald Trump’s good graces.

Long rumored to be a frontrunner for Trump’s dream of replacing current Fed Chair Jerome Powell — a man the former president has publicly lambasted for years — Waller made a splash on CNBC Wednesday morning by saying the quiet part out loud about Trump’s favorite economic cudgel: tariffs.

Speaking with CNBC’s Steve Liesman on Squawk Box, Waller offered an otherwise upbeat take on the economy. “I don’t see recession in my forecast at all,” he said, before adding the line that may haunt him in Trumpworld: “But I do see slower growth through the year, mainly because of the tariff impact. Tariffs are a tax, and taxes are never typically good for growth. So you’re going to get some slow growth out of this.”

In economic circles, Waller’s assessment is downright pedestrian — tariffs are effectively taxes on imported goods, and they usually pinch consumers and businesses alike. But in the MAGA orbit, orthodoxy isn’t a selling point. Trump has long touted tariffs as both sound policy and populist theater, portraying them as punishment for foreign rivals while promising to bring jobs back to American soil. That message resonates in Rust Belt swing states, even as it leaves most economists wincing.

Which leaves Waller in an awkward position: his frankness may win him credibility among policy wonks, but it could cost him the inside track for the Fed’s top seat if Trump retakes the White House.

Still, Waller didn’t sound alarm bells. By downplaying recession fears, he projected calm that Wall Street and voters alike may welcome amid endless headlines about economic doom. The problem isn’t his forecast — it’s the politics.

Because in today’s GOP, calling tariffs a “tax” isn’t just an economic opinion. It’s heresy. And heretics rarely get promoted.

Watch above via CNBC.