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.

Trump has been less than subtle in urging the Fed to cut the rates it controls. Powell, in what has been a rare pushback against Trump among federal policymakers, insists it’s still too early to cut rates.