• Feb 05, 2025

Fed officials note abundance of uncertainty in Trump's policy moves

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Federal Reserve officials on Wednesday pointed to the large policy uncertainty around tariffs and other issues arising from the early days of President Donald Trump's administration as among the top challenges in figuring out where to take U.S. monetary policy in the months ahead. Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee warned that ignoring the potential inflationary impact of tariffs would be a mistake, whereas Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin said it remains impossible at this early stage to know where cost increases from any tariffs might be absorbed or passed along to consumers.

  • Feb 05, 2025

Fed's Goolsbee warns of potential inflationary impact of tariffs

The U.S. economy is strong, the labor market is "plausibly" at full employment, and inflation has come down and is approaching the Fed's 2% goal, Goolsbee said in remarks prepared for delivery to the regional Fed bank's annual auto symposium in Detroit. "Yet we now face a series of new challenges to the supply chain - natural and man-made disasters from fires and hurricanes to collisions with bridges that take out major ports, canal cloggings and threats of dockworker walkouts; geopolitical disruptions; immigration; and, of course, the threat of large tariffs and the potential for an escalating trade war," Goolsbee said. "If we see inflation rising or progress stalling in 2025, the Fed will be in the difficult position of trying to figure out if the inflation is coming from overheating or if it's coming from tariffs," Goolsbee said.