Meet Stephen Miran, Trump's newest Federal Reserve Board pick

He graduated from Boston University and got a Ph.D. from Harvard

Miran attended Boston University, where he studied economics, philosophy, and mathematics, according to a White House biography.

He later earned a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University in 2010, where he wrote a dissertation on household saving behavior and fiscal policy.

His dissertation advisor was Martin Feldstein, an economist who also served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Ronald Reagan.

He's called the independence of the Fed into question

In an article for Barron's published in October 2024, Miran argued that the Federal Reserve isn't as independent as it seems.

While the central bank is typically seen as being largely separate from the whims of the president, Miran said that there are often informal communication channels between officials at the Treasury and the Fed in particular. He also noted that many Treasury officials later serve at the Fed, and vice versa.

"The wall between fiscal and monetary policy is already partially broken down, and the central bank's independence is overstated," Miran wrote. "To the extent that personnel is policy, the Fed has already fused with the rest of the executive branch. Getting overly excited by politicians' statements on the matter may grab attention, but the ship has sailed."

He's criticized Powell for not cutting interest rates

Miran is likely to be a key vote for cutting interest rates if confirmed to the Federal Reserve Board.

In fact, he implicitly criticized Powell for not doing so in an appearance on MSNBC last month, arguing that Trump is generally prescient about rate cuts.

"What we're seeing now in real time is a repetition, once again, of this pattern where the president will end up having been proven right," Miran said. "The Fed will — with a lag, and probably quite too late —eventually catch up to the President's view."

He has experience in private industry

Prior to focusing on public economic policies, he had a career in the private sector.

Before joining the Treasury, Miran had spent about a decade working in financial markets, including in analyst and portfolio roles at Fidelity Investments.

In 2021, after leaving the first Trump administration, Miran co‑founded Amberwave Partners, an asset management firm focused on investment strategy, where he served as portfolio manager until early 2023. In 2024, Miran also took on the role of senior strategist at Hudson Bay Capital Management, a multi‑strategy hedge fund known for its investment in distressed debt.

He was confirmed to chair the Council of Economic Advisers

Miran has served in both Trump administrations.

He was nominated by Trump in December 2024 to serve as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, which is a top White House role that advises the president on economic policies.

He was confirmed by the Senate in March 2025, by a party-line 53-46 vote. Senate Democrats and some centrist Republicans expressed concern over his advocacy for broad, economy-wide tariffs, which they said could raise prices for consumers and provoke retaliatory measures from key allies.

Some criticsalso question whether his relatively recent conversion from a believer in free markets to a supporter of tariffs is politically motivated or based on data, though Miran previously told Fortune magazine that his beliefs are shaped by when he worked on Wall Street in his 20s.

He is an assistant architect in Trump's tariffs

Miran is often credited with developing the framework behind Trump's push for "reciprocal tariffs" — the idea that the US should match or mirror the tariffs other countries impose on American goods.

In late 2024, Miran authored a 41-page policy paper titled "A User's Guide to Restructuring the Global Trading System."

The document laid out his theory that tariffs could be used not just to protect domestic industries but also as leverage to force trade concessions from trading partners such as China, the EU, and Mexico.

Miran also argues in the paper that the US can use its economic scale and consumer market as a strategic tool to rebalance global trade, which he said has been skewed by years of unequal treatment under WTO rules.

He helped shape pandemic relief programs

The pandemic hit while Miran was serving as the Senior Advisor for Economic Policy at the Treasury, and he is often credited for coming up with the relief programs to help support small and medium-sized businesses, many of which were shutting their doors.

The programs he helped usher through include the Paycheck Protection Program for smaller businesses and the Main Street Lending Program for brick-and-mortar stores.

He also worked to incentivise companies of all sizes to retain employees by tying their loan forgiveness to payroll spending, in response to a sudden spike in unemployment rates during the pandemic.

Miran eventually received a Treasury award for his work.