US President Donald Trump’s latest choice to become a member of the US Federal Reserve board on Thursday withdrew from consideration — his fourth pick to fail to make it through the process.
Conservative economic commentator Stephen Moore had faced mounting criticism over his qualifications and past comments. The withdrawal suggested the president is facing difficulty in installing loyalists at the central bank.
“Steve Moore, a great pro-growth economist and a truly fine person, has decided to withdraw from the Fed process,” Trump said on Twitter, moments after Moore told Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal that he would stay in the race.
Another candidate, businessman and long-shot presidential candidate Herman Cain, last week pulled out of the process to fill one of two remaining openings on the central bank board.
Trump has repeatedly ignored norms designed to protect the independent Fed from political influence, which could undermine its credibility, lambasting the central bank for raising interest rates and even this week calling for a drastic cut.
In that atmosphere, his nominations of Moore and Cain were viewed by some as an attempt to bring pressure from the inside.
They also were criticized for their lack of qualifications, including by Republicans in the US Senate.
Five of the 53 Republicans in the 100-member chamber told reporters that there were serious problems with Moore’s candidacy.
US Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican, hardened her opposition after the emergence of articles and speeches by Moore over the years, some of which have been criticized as sexist or trafficking in racism.
US Senator Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said Moore never should have been considered.
“First, Cain. Now, Moore. Thank goodness neither were actually nominated,” Schumer said in a statement. “The only thing less funny than some of Mr Moore’s tasteless, offensive, sexist ‘jokes’ was the idea that President Trump would even consider him for a seat on the Federal Reserve.”
Moore, a 59-year-old economic and political commentator, advised Trump when he was running for president and has publicly shared his opposition to raising interest rates, calling the last hike in December last year “economic malpractice.”
Moore recently had tried to walk back some of his comments about women, such as complaints that women’s wage gains could pose a danger to families by outpacing those of men.
In a letter informing Trump of his withdrawal, Moore defended the economic policies that he championed, but decried the withering criticism he faced.
“Trumponomics has been VINDICATED,” Moore wrote.
However, the “unrelenting attacks on my character have become untenable for me and my family and three more months of this would be too hard on us.”
Trump said on Twitter he had asked Moore “to work with me toward future economic growth in our Country.”
The Fed has a seven-member board, but has had openings for many months.
Former Fed staffer Nellie Liang, another Trump nominee for the Fed, dropped out in January, while economist Marvin Goodfriend’s nomination died in the Senate last year and was not resubmitted.
However, Trump has named three Fed members to the board, including Fed Vice Chairman Richard Clarida, and also promoted Jerome Powell to his post as chairman.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in