The Federal Reserve's Voice: The Federal Reserve Pauses Interest Rate Cuts, Diverges from Other Major Central Bank Policies

[The Federal Reserve (FED) spokesperson: The Federal Reserve (FED) pauses interest rate cuts, diverging from the policies of other major Central Banks] On May 8, news reported that The Federal Reserve (FED) spokesperson Nick Timiraos stated that Powell downplayed any speculation about The Federal Reserve (FED) seeking to ease economic weakness caused by Trump’s tariffs through interest rate cuts. Powell mentioned the word “wait” 22 times during the press conference to emphasize that The Federal Reserve (FED) is not in a hurry to act. The remarks exposed the monetary policy divergence between the United States and other economies caused by Trump’s trade policies, simply because other economies did not raise taxes on imports significantly and faced weaker demand and employment, but without the impact of rising prices that the Fed might have to deal with later this year. In addition, since the U.S. economy has just experienced a period of high inflation, the Fed does not believe that it can risk preemptively cutting interest rates to support the slowdown in employment, so as not to exacerbate price pressures in the short term. As a result, the Fed’s position is different from that of the central banks of Europe, Canada and England. Powell has hinted that the Fed will only cut rates if it sees evidence of a significant slowdown in economic growth, and possibly quickly. (Golden Ten)