WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he would not appoint anyone to head the Federal Reserve who would not lower interest rates from where they are, setting perhaps the most explicit litmus test yet for candidates to be the next central bank chief to align with his demands for steep rate cuts in order to get the job.

"If I think somebody's going to keep the rates where they are or whatever, I'm not going to put them in," Trump said. "I'm going to put somebody that wants to cut rates. There are a lot of them out there."

Presidents in the past have complained about the Fed setting interest rates too high for their liking, but Trump has taken it further than any recent U.S. leader in setting a clear expectation for whomever he nominates to be in line with his wishes.

Trump, who said rates should be cut to 1% from the current Fed benchmark rate of 4.25% to 4.50%, has repeatedly railed against Fed Chair Jerome Powell for not lowering borrowing costs since Trump returned to the White House in January, and he did so again on Friday. 

"I'd love him to resign if he wanted to, he's done a lousy job," Trump, speaking at the White House, said, while also labeling the Fed chair as "stupid."

After raising rates aggressively coming out of the pandemic to combat the largest inflation outbreak since the 1970s and 1980s, the Fed lowered them a bit in the second half of last year but has not cut them since Trump returned to office. That is largely because Powell and the large majority of policymakers are concerned Trump's tariff policies in particular may rekindle inflation, and they prefer to wait longer to see if that develops before lowering rates again. Fed officials themselves have penciled in half a percentage point of cuts later this year, although that is a fraction of the reduction Trump is demanding.

Trump's latest rant against Powell comes as he has largely backed away from threats to try to fire the Fed leader after a recent Supreme Court opinion appeared to align with long-standing views that presidents cannot dismiss top Fed officials over policy disagreements. The protection is seen as central to the Fed's independence from political interference in policymaking, which is seen as a critical pillar of its credibility as the world's most influential central bank. 

Trump has since turned his focus more to a successor for Powell, whose term as chair expires in May 2026.

He has in recent weeks said he has three or four potential candidates in mind and he would make a decision soon. Most past Fed chair appointments have typically been made roughly three or four months before the vacancy was scheduled. There are about 10 months remaining in Powell's tenure as chair, and an early nomination by Trump is seen as an effort to undermine Powell's authority by giving voice to a "shadow chair" who would advocate for a different policy trajectory.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, seen as one of the potential candidates to replace Powell, downplayed the "shadow chair" idea, however.

"I don't think anyone's necessarily talking about that," he told CNBC. Bessent noted that just one seat on the Fed Board of Governors is scheduled to open up within the year when Governor Adriana Kugler's term expires in early 2026. While Powell's term as chair expires next May, he is not required to leave the Fed altogether until his board seat expires in 2028. That leaves Kugler's expected departure as the first opportunity for a Trump appointment.

"So there is a chance that the person who is going to become the chair could be appointed in January, which would probably mean an October, November nomination," Bessent said.

Asked about reports that he is among the pool of candidates, Bessent said: "I'll do what the president wants, but I think I have the best job in Washington."

Others seen as possible nominees for the job are White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, and current Governor Christopher Waller. Waller, appointed by Trump during the Republican's first term in office, in the past week has said he is open to cutting interest rates as soon as the Fed's next meeting at the end of July.