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The head of a federal agency for consumers has packed up his office. But will Trump fire him?

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The head of a federal agency for consumers has packed up his office. But will Trump fire him?
ENT

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The head of a federal agency for consumers has packed up his office. But will Trump fire him?

2025-01-23 05:51 Last Updated At:06:11

WASHINGTON (AP) — The director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Rohit Chopra, has been waiting for a phone call, letter, email, text — anything, really — from the Trump administration that might say if he's getting fired.

After all, Chopra is a Biden administration appointee. He's an ally of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., one of President Donald Trump’s favorite targets. Chopra has already packed up his office a few blocks from the White House. His picture no longer hangs in the lobby.

But as of Wednesday, Chopra remains one of the more important regulators from the Biden administration who's still on the job as Trump cleans house. That's according to a person familiar with Chopra's situation who insisted on anonymity to describe his status. Of course, it was Trump who during his first term picked Chopra to be a Democrat on the Federal Trade Commission.

For a president who took office with aggressive plans to reshape Washington, Trump seems not to have fully communicated what he wants from Chopra's agency. Under his leadership, the bureau has tackled junk fees, limited overdraft penalties and removed medical debt from people’s credit ratings. His continued presence on the job may speak to how Trump's desire to move quickly in taking control of the government can lead to some oversights, but also to the challenge of fully merging Trump's populism with his pro-business calls to cut regulations.

Allison Preiss, a spokesperson for the CFPB, declined to comment on Chopra’s job status. White House officials did not respond to questions about his status.

As a candidate, Trump pledged to cap the interest charged on credit card debt and the bureau has privately done work on that issue should the president wish to implement his promise.

“While working Americans catch up, we’re going to put a temporary cap on credit card interest rates,” Trump said at a September rally. “We’re going to cap it at around 10%. We can’t let them make 25 and 30%.”

Under the law, Chopra serves a five-year term, which means he could stay on as the CFPB director. But he has publicly stated that he would leave his post if the president asked.

The CFPB under Chopra has courted controversy with major banks and other companies who view its actions as being too aggressive. JPMorganChase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said at an American Bankers Association conference that it was time to fight back against regulators, saying of Chopra, according to Yahoo News, “Rohit is a very smart guy who has one major flaw, which I told him personally, which is that you use your brains to justify what you already think.”

Trump has made easing government regulations one of his cornerstones for growth, meaning that he might need to choose between his vows to companies and his stated commitment to easing costs for working families.

The CFPB has several pending rules pertaining to restrictions on data brokers selling personal information such as Social Security numbers and phone numbers. It's also seeking to ban contracts that could cause someone to lose access to financial services for making political statements. The CFPB, meanwhile, is considering legal action against Meta, Mark Zuckerberg's company disclosed. It also in December published an order to supervise Google Payment Corp. as more financial transactions are going through people's phones.

FILE - President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra, speaks from the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington, April 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

FILE - Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra, speaks from the South Court Auditorium on the White House complex in Washington, April 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

HONG KONG (AP) — Stocks in Asia were mostly down Tuesday, after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 25% tariffs on all U.S. imports of steel and aluminum.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 0.87% to 21,335.38, while the Shanghai Composite dipped 0.12% to 3,318.06. Japan markets were closed for a national holiday. Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia remained largely unchanged and South Korea’s KOSPI was up 0.71% to 2,539.05.

Trump said over the weekend he would announce 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, with more import duties to come later in the week.

Fear around tariffs has been at the center of Wall Street’s moves recently, and experts say the market likely has more swings ahead. The price of gold, which often rises when investors are feeling nervous, climbed again Monday to top $2,930 per ounce and set another record.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures slid 82 points, about 0.18%. The S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures respectively fell 0.28% and 0.36%.

But Trump has shown he can be just as quick to pull back on threats, like he did with 25% tariffs he had announced on Canada and Mexico, suggesting they may be merely a negotiating chip rather than a true long-term policy.

Trump has pressed ahead with 10% tariffs on Chinese goods, while China has retaliated by imposing tariffs on U.S. coal and liquefied natural gas products as well as crude oil, agricultural machinery and large-engine cars.

“Beijing’s restraint in targeting only a small sliver of U.S. goods is deemed to be a deliberately less than proportionate response to avert an escalatory tit-for-tat spiral,” said Vishnu Varathan, head of macro research at Mizuho.

“Nonetheless, the reality is that U.S.-China trade tensions are set to structurally ramp-up, even if a negotiated compromise is the endgame for Trump 2.0 tariffs," Varathan added.

The S&P 500 rose 40.45 points to 6,066.44 on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 167.01 to 44,4701.41, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 190.87 to 19,714.27.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury held steady at 4.50%. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which more closely tracks expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do with short-term interest rates, fell to 4.27% from 4.29%.

The Fed cut its main interest rate several times through the end of last year, but traders have been sharply curtailing their expectations for more reductions in 2025, in part because of fears about potentially higher inflation from tariffs. While lower rates can give a boost to the economy and investment prices, they can also give inflation more fuel.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell will be offering testimony before Congress later this week, where he could offer more hints about what the Fed is thinking. In December, Fed officials sent financial markets sharply lower after indicating they may cut rates only twice this year.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S crude added 51 cents to $72.83 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 44 cents to $76.31 a barrel.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar remained largely unchanged at about 151.95 Japanese yen. The euro cost $1.0305, also largely unchanged.

AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed.

A currency trader passes by a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader passes by a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top right, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top right, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders watch monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders watch monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

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