Barkin: Wages, possible tariffs, reasons to be careful about declaring inflation victory

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – High union wage settlements and the possibility of coming tariff increases are among the uncertainties that could make U.S. Federal Reserve officials more cautious about thinking they have won their battle against high inflation, Richmond Federal Reserve president Tom Barkin said on Thursday.

“Being thoughtful, gradual, systemic, methodical…in terms of declaring victory is not a bad judgment, because you may have cost pressures coming for things like wages or tariffs or whatever happens…On the other hand you can’t ignore things that are disinflationary,” Barkin said in comments to the Real Estate Roundtable, a public policy group for real estate investors and companies.

Barkin did not indicate if he favored another rate cut at the Fed’s upcoming December meeting.