Donald Trump’s attempt to stack the board of the US Federal Reserve is climaxing – just ahead of a Fed meeting at which the US central bank is expected to cut its policy rate for the first time this year.

Senate Republicans were scrambling last week to confirm the appointment of Trump’s key economic adviser, Stephen Miran, to fill a vacancy on the board.

US President Donald Trump is looking to tighten his grip on the Fed.Credit: Bloomberg

They hope to complete the process by Monday evening (US time), before the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which decides US monetary policy, starts its two-day meeting on Tuesday.

On Thursday last week, the Trump administration asked a US appeals court to overturn a lower court decision and allow Trump to sack a sitting Fed governor, Lisa Cook, urging the court to make its decision before the close of business on Monday, again just ahead of the FOMC meeting.

There are 12 voting members of the FOMC, including two Trump appointees – Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman – so an appointment of Miran and removal of Cook would give Trump three of the 11 people who will decide whether to cut the federal funds rate and whether that rate cut should be 25 basis points or 50 basis points.

Longer term, if Trump were successful in removing Cook and replacing her with his own nominee, four of the seven-member Fed board of governors would owe him their position. In May, when Jerome Powell’s term as chair (but not as a governor) expires, he could elevate one of his appointees to that powerful position.

It should be said that, regardless of what happens to Miran and Cook, the Fed is poised to cut the federal funds rate (analogous to the Reserve Bank’s cash rate) because the US jobs market has stalled and the unemployment rate is rising.

It’s likely to be only a 25 basis point cut because, even as the jobs market and economy........

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