The Federal Reserve kept interest rates on hold and called out growing dangers in the US economy amid Donald Trump’s erratic rollout of an aggressive trade strategy.
Jerome Powell, the US central bank’s chair, cautioned that the president’s tariffs were likely to raise prices, weaken growth and increase unemployment if maintained.
Fed policymakers cautioned that “the risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation have risen” as they opted to maintain the benchmark interest rate for the third time in a row. “Uncertainty about the economic outlook has increased further,” they said in a statement.
With inflation expectations – how consumers think prices will move – rising, Powell, the Fed chair, said the “driving factor” appeared to be Trump’s tariffs.
At a press conference, he said: “If the large increases in tariffs that have been announced are sustained, they are likely to generate a rise in inflation, a slowdown in economic growth, and an increase in unemployment.”... (our emphasis)
The Malignant Fascist had let it be known he wanted the Fed to cut interest rates. Luckily we have an independent Federal Reserve (at least for now).
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