The Fox Business’ Edward Lawrence sits to discuss the US economy, rate cuts, impacts of trading deals, and much more with the chairman of the Federal Reserve.
Chairman of a regional federal Reserve The bank said on Monday that the American economy is “really healthy” and currently there is no need to cut interest rates, preventing the decline in the labor market amid uncertainty on the impact of tariffs on inflation.
Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Bath Hamac spoke especially with Edward Lawrence of Fox Business Network and said that he feels that the central bank is a place where it can wait to change the interest rates while it sees how Economic conditions evolve.
“When I back down and wonder where the economy is overall, I see an economy that is really healthy. You have found a labor market that is 4% to 4.2%, stable, healthy, around that maximum employment side of our mandate,” Hamac said.
The President of the Cleveland Federal Reserve speaks at the Columbus Metropolitan Club in Columbus, Ohio on 16 April 2025. (Bryan Kaiser / Bloomberg Getty Image / Getty Image)
“And you have found inflation, which has progressed above 7% in the height of the epidemic, but we are hanging in the same range below 3% for some time, and so I think it is important that we wait and see how all new policies have been put forward, which is going to affect inflation,” he said.
Hamac stated that recent economic figures 2% suggest a component of the double mandate of the Fed to promote stable prices near 2% long inflation and Maximum employment The current level of interest rates is appropriate than the other.
“I walk in every meeting with an open mind, waiting to see where the data is going to take us, where the conversation takes us, and what to do. But where I sit and what I see, what I see is that we are seeing that we are killing our employment side of the mandate, we are not yet towards the inflation of the mandate, and I think it is important for us to maintain a restrictive situation.”
Bath Hamac, president of the Cleveland Federal Reserve, said that he feels that the central bank is in a place where it can wait to change the interest rates while it sees how the economic situation develops. (Photographer: Nathan Howard / Bloomberg / Getty Images)
Cleveland Fed Chief said the fed “where there is neutral rate, there is too close” and “I look at an economy that is flexible, I see that he is really working well, and I really need to reduce the materials on the labor side as long as we do not need to lower.”
Atlanta Fed’s Basta warned that tariff effects can cause prolonged inflation
Hamac was asked whether the current level of the current level of the Fed could run the current level of interest rates, which is at a range of 4.25% to 4.5% this year. Risk of slowing the economy And said that inflation moving upwards from the target has made it important to keep the rates to some extent.
“A minor restrictive attitude that we have right now is important because inflation is still running above our target. We are walking around 2.7%,” he said. “As I mentioned last year when we did those cuts in decline, it was because we saw that inflation had come below 7% from 3%. We are still in that zip code.”
“If you see core inflationThis was 2.7% when we started those rate cuts in September. This is still right around 2.7%. So we expected to make more progress on it, and we have not really seen anyone, so what is to help the restrictive currency, “Hamac said.
“The restrictive stance we have right now is important because inflation is still running above our goal,” said Bath Hamac, president of the Cleveland Federal Reserve. (Spencer Plot / Getty Image / Getty Images)
“I don’t think we are especially restrictive right now, and I think the economy is performing well. If we see the economy weakening, if we see the picture of development slowing down, if we see the labor picture slowing down, we are going to answer it. We take both sides of our mandate very seriously,” he said.
Fed Chair Powell confirms tariff concerns
chairman Donald TrumpTariff has created uncertainty for businesses and consumers, especially with the time of price growth and depth, which has influenced the assessment of the fed about when the interest rate cut should go.
Federal reserve chair Zerome poly It was previously mentioned that uncertainty about those tariff effects avoided the interest rate cut in the central bank so far this year. Hamac echoed the feeling that the central bank needs to wait and see how tariffs go into the economy as it evaluates its next interest rate.
Federal Reserve President Jerome Powell had earlier mentioned that uncertainty about those tariff effects has avoided the interest rate cut in the central bank so far this year. (Reuters/Amanda Andrade-Rodes/File Photo/Reuters Photos)
“If you look at very specific things, if you see steel, there was a very clean 25%tariff that was kept in March, increased to 50%last month, you can see that over a period of three to four months, the price of steel increased by about 23%, 21%,” he said. “And so you see in discrete places, where you had very clear, very specific tariffs, you can see some effects.”
Hamac said, “Some of these places where you had these broad countries tariffs, and then they were reduced, perhaps they are going back again. It’s not clear where they are going to end,” Hamac said.
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He said, “Just there is a lot of uncertainty and what we hear from businesses is that they are still working through their inventory, they have a lot that they bought before the tariff arrived, and they are still working to get it out,” he said.
Fed’s next monetary policy meeting is scheduled on 29-30 July this month.
