Kevin Warsh, sworn in as Federal Reserve Chair on May 22, 2026, is about to face his first real test. His inaugural FOMC meeting, scheduled for June 16-17, will culminate in a press conference where markets expect him to lay out a coherent inflation-fighting strategy that departs sharply from the Powell era.
A new sheriff with old-school instincts
Warsh is no stranger to the Fed. He served as a Governor from 2006 to 2011, a stretch that included the global financial crisis and its messy aftermath. During that tenure, he built a reputation as one of the more hawkish voices in the room, consistently flagging inflation risks even when others were focused on keeping the economy from collapsing.
Warsh has been vocal about viewing inflation not as some abstract economic byproduct but as a deliberate policy choice. In his framework, the Fed doesn’t passively observe inflation. It actively controls it.
The previous regime under Jerome Powell embraced “flexible average inflation targeting,” adopted in 2020, which essentially gave the Fed permission to let inflation run above 2% for extended periods to make up for past shortfalls. Warsh has openly criticized that approach. His preferred alternative: a strict 2% inflation target with no tolerance for overshooting.
