US fed chair Jay Powell speaking today in Chicago, warns of decreasing growth combined with increasing and prolonged price inflation ahead

Currently happening live - key points that were interesting

[https://www.ft.com/content/f0b8837a-cf49-4031-99c3-3adcb79aaeba](https://www.ft.com/content/f0b8837a-cf49-4031-99c3-3adcb79aaeba)

[https://www.reuters.com/world/us/latest-updates-fed-chair-jerome-powell-speak-us-economic-outlook-2025-04-16/](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/latest-updates-fed-chair-jerome-powell-speak-us-economic-outlook-2025-04-16/)

"Powell said the president’s tariffs announced so far had been 'significantly larger than anticipated', adding that 'the same was likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation and slower growth'."

Powell "later added that those economic effects may place US rate setters 'in the challenging scenario in which our dual-mandate goals are in tension'. The Fed’s dual mandate is to keep inflation at 2 per cent while promoting 'maximum' employment levels."

"Several Fed officials — including John Williams, head of the New York Fed, and governor Christopher Waller — have said inflation is likely to surge in the coming months on the back of the administration’s proposed tariffs. While Waller thinks the impact of tariffs will prove shortlived, other members of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee which Powell chairs believe Trump’s tariffs have increased the odds that inflation will be a longer problem for US consumers."
"The US central bank has kept its benchmark federal funds target range at 4.25-4.5 per cent this year, with officials saying they are well-placed to respond once the economic data show the effects of the president’s policies on American businesses and households."