In an interview with CNBC on Friday, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee said they should wait for things to get clearer when there is so much uncertainty.
Key points
"There has been a clear shift toward anxiety and anticipation of capital spending among business contacts."
"The current conditions may be a shock to the economy depending on how long they last."
"The Fed needs to be calm and take a long-term view of the economy."
"Markets want information quickly but that's not realistic right now."
"There's still a lot of strength in the economy right now."
"Unemployment and inflation reflect progress toward the dual mandate."
"Before assessing how monetary policy will react to tariffs, the Fed needs to know how long the tariffs will last, the likelihood of retaliation, and the impact on consumers."
"Imports are only 11% of GDP, so a one-time tariff that is not followed by retaliation is likely to be temporary."
"The bigger the tariffs are and the more they resemble a supply shock, the harder it is for the Fed to deal with them."
"The answer to what is meant by temporary this time is whether the tariffs apply to intermediate goods, trigger retaliation, and other factors."(Newsmaker23)
Source: FXstreet