Trump announces nominees to fill two vacant Federal Reserve seats

United States President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday the names of two nominees to fill vacant posts on the Federal Reserve Board, after two of his earlier choices withdrew from consideration in the face of criticism.

Trump said on Twitter he intends to nominate Christopher Waller, an executive vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis, and Judy Shelton, the US director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Both nominees must be confirmed by the US Senate.

Before joining the Fed Bank in St. Louis as research director in 2009, Waller was an economics professor at the University of Notre Dame.

Shelton, who served as an economic adviser to Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, has advocated a return to the gold standard.

Trump has been critical of the Federal Reserve, and Chairman Jerome Powell in particular, for raising interest rates.

Trump says he wants lower rates to better compete with China and has accused Powell, whom he appointed to lead the central bank in early 2018, of doing a "bad job."

Trump's earlier choices for the Fed seats, economic commentator Stephen Moore and businessman Herman Cain, withdrew from consideration.

Cain pulled out in mid-April after lawmakers expressed discomfort with the sexual harassment allegations that cut short his presidential bid in 2012. Cain has denied those allegations.

Moore withdrew from consideration in May after weeks of criticism about his political partisanship, shifting views on interest rate policy, and sexist comments about women.

Neither Cain nor Moore had been formally nominated.