At Jackson Hole, Warsh Set Up a Potential Showdown With Trump

Kevin Warsh gave his first major speech as chairman of the Federal Reserve on August 28 at this year’s Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium. He followed his predecessors in giving clues about the Fed’s future direction—as much as he might prefer not to—and perhaps even set himself on a collision course with President Trump.

Hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City each year, the symposium draws bankers, policymakers, and academics to the small resort town of Jackson, Wyoming, for three days to discuss long-term policy concerns. The highlight of the conference is the Federal Reserve chair’s annual address, usually given on Friday morning.

Paul Volcker was the first Fed chair to attend in 1982 (in fact, the picturesque location, with its proximity to some of the world’s best fly-fishing, was chosen in part to lure that avid angler to the meeting). Alan Greenspan was a regular opening speaker for over 14 years, his celebrity helping to swell attendance and raise the symposium’s profile. And Warsh’s immediate predecessor, Jerome Powell, frequently used his annual address to foreshadow the direction of Fed policy, thrusting it further into the spotlight.