By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said he will not remove Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve Board Chairman before his term ends in May 2026 while describing the central banker as "a total stiff" and repeating calls for the Fed to lower interest rates.

In an interview with "Meet the Press with Kristen Welker" on NBC News airing on Sunday, Trump said Powell was no fan of his, but he expected the Fed to lower interest rates at some point.

"Well, he should lower them. And at some point, he will. He'd rather not because he's not a fan of mine. You know, he just doesn't like me because I think he's a total stiff," he said in the interview, which was taped in Florida on Friday.

Asked if he would remove Powell before his term as chair ends in 2026, Trump issued his most definitive denial, saying, "No, no, no. That was a total - why would I do that? I get to replace the person in another short period of time."

Wall Street stocks fell sharply last month after Trump doubled down on his attacks against Powell, amplifying concerns about the central bank's autonomy and rattling markets. After the nosedive, Trump has backed off somewhat.

The comments aired on Sunday were the clearest indication yet that the U.S. president would keep Powell in place, which could reassure markets deeply unsettled by Trump's moves to upend the global trading system with a tsunami of tariffs.

On April 2, Trump imposed a 10% tariff on most countries, along with higher tariff rates for many trading partners that were then suspended for 90 days. He has also imposed 25% tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum, 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and 145% tariffs on China.

Trump's administration is negotiating with over 15 countries for trade deals that could avert the higher tariffs, and officials say the first deal could be announced soon.

During the interview with NBC News, Trump declined to rule out making some of the tariffs permanent. "No, I wouldn't do that because if somebody thought they were going to come off the table, why would they build in the United States?" he said.

Trump acknowledged he had been "very tough with China," essentially cutting off trade between the world's two large economies, but said Beijing now wanted to reach an agreement.

"We've gone cold turkey," he said. "That means we're not losing a trillion dollars ... because we're not doing business with them right now. And they want to make a deal. They want to make a deal very badly. We'll see how that all turns out, but it's got to be a fair deal."