President Donald Trump said last week that he will announce his pick to succeed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell “very soon.” The problem is that Powell still has 11 months left until the end of his term.

Jerome H. Powell, whose term does not expire until May, has argued that the central bank can afford to be patient about cutting interest rates amid uncertainty about the economic outlook.

Donald Trump has said he will only pick a new Federal Reserve chair who will cut US interest rates, as he called on the central bank to slash borrowing costs to 1 per cent.