Fed officials express concerns about tariffs, falling stocks

Earlier this month, Federal Reserve officials appeared on track to raise the central bank’s key interest rate again in December, but they signalled that the pace of future rate hikes might need to slow given emerging risks to the economy, according to minutes of the Nov. 7-8 discussions that were released Thursday.

The minutes show that officials expressed concerns about a variety of threats, including the impact of tariffs, a slowing global economy and tightening financial conditions amid falling stock prices.

Read: Darkening clouds start to overhang global economic expansion

Yet, the Fed has raised rates three times this year and says the current economy is in strong shape. The minutes show support for a fourth hike this year if the labour market and inflation meet or exceed expectations. But after that, officials said further hikes would not be on a pre-set course.

In a speech Wednesday, Fed chairman Jerome Powell raised similar points, which sent stock markets surging. Investors interpreted his remarks as evidence that the Fed might consider pulling back from quarterly rate hikes.

That stood in contrast with comments Powell had made in October, when he said that the Fed’s policy rate was still a “long way from neutral.” That comment had unsettled investors who feared that it meant the Fed would need a number of further hikes to get to neutral.

The Fed raised its benchmark rate in March, June and September, with the last increase putting it in a range of 2% to 2.25%. At the September meeting, the Fed signalled that it would likely raise rates one more time this year, and it projected three more rate hikes in 2019.

The hikes have prompted a flood of criticism from President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly attacked the Fed and Powell personally. Trump tapped Powell last year to be Fed chairman after he decided against giving Janet Yellen a second term.

In an interview this week with The Washington Post, Trump said he was not happy with Powell’s support for further rate hikes. The president has blamed the Fed for the steep two-month fall in the stock market and the possibility that his efforts to boost growth with a major tax cut will be thwarted by rising interest rates.

There was no mention of the attacks in the Fed’s minutes. The position of Fed officials is that the criticism will have no impact on the institution, which was set up to guard its political independence.

However, the minutes did raise a number of worries about Trump’s get-tough trade policies, which have levied tariffs on billions of dollars’-worth of imports from China and other countries and prompted retaliation against U.S. products.

The minutes said that the higher tariffs were raising costs, especially for industries that rely heavily on steel and aluminum. In relation to Fed contracts in agriculture, the minutes said that conditions “remain depressed,” reflecting in part the drop in exports due to the trade battle.