Jerome Powell: “In effect, we went on hold when we saw the size of the tariffs, and essentially all inflation forecasts for the United…”

So we didn't overreact — in fact, we didn't react at all. We're simply taking some time.

If we're going to do that successfully, we need to do it in a completely nonpolitical way, which means we don't take sides, we don't play one side against the other, we stay out of issues that are really not our bailiwick.

Part of that is due to the start-stop nature of the tariffs that have been introduced.

Job growth, he said, has slowed considerably and that the downside risks to employment are rising.