Inflation has fallen sharply and as a result Fed officials have signaled they will cut rates by as much as a half-percentage point this year. Yet it has picked up a bit in the last two months and many of those policymakers, including Powell, still want to make sure that tariffs aren’t going to lift inflation much higher before they make a move.

Donald Trump clashed with Jay Powell during a visit to the Federal Reserve on Thursday in a rare public confrontation between a US president and central bank chief.

The president’s participation in a tour of the Fed had the makings of a public relations disaster for the central bank. But by Friday, the president was praising Powell.