Powell Reiterates Fed Would Have Cut More If Not for Tariffs

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell repeated that the US central bank probably would have cut rates further this year absent President Donald Trump’s expanded use of tariffs.

“In effect, we went on hold when we saw the size of the tariffs and essentially all inflation forecasts for the United States went up materially as a consequence of the tariffs,” Powell said Tuesday on a panel alongside other prominent central bank leaders moderated by Bloomberg’s Francine Lacqua.

“We think that the prudent thing to do is to wait and learn more and see what those effects might be,” he added. ...