Marlo Ramirez will carry beef slabs to prepare for grocery customers on July 22, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
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Two economists who are looking to stand out for a federal reserve vacancy said Tuesday they did not believe tariffs would cause inflation. He said this is in line with President Donald Trump’s desire to cut interest rates.
In separate CNBC interviews, Stephen Milan and James Bullard rejected ideas supported by many non-white home economists, saying the job will lead to long-term prices.
Trump slammed Milan to fill the remaining months of former governor Adriana Kugler’s term, who left the position on Friday. Bullard’s name reported in this week’s report that he is one of at least half a dozen candidates to fill Chairman Jerome Powell’s seat when his term expires in May next year. Bullard is also former President of the Commonwealth of St. Louis.
Neither of them committed to the way they voted for interest rates. But they praised Trump’s growth agenda and made comments in line with the president’s position that inflation is not an issue.
“There is absolutely no evidence of tariff-induced inflation,” said Milan, chairman of the White House Economic Advisors Council. “A lot of people who were expecting… fate and darkness, it’s just not panning out, it’s not panning out for them.”
Comments come after the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index was 2.7% in July, still above the Fed’s 2% target, but below Wall Street’s forecast.
Bullard said the data continues to show that Trump’s aggressive tariffs have not led to inflation. He predicted that the rate setting Federal Open Market Committee began cutting in September, likely to snatch full percentage points from benchmark interest rates over the next 12 months.
“The committee suspended the rate-cutting program six months ago when the tariff situation occurred, and now there is six months of evidence,” he said. “I don’t think tariffs cause inflation. Taxes don’t cause inflation. So what you see in the data is a very silenced effect of a one-off increase in price levels.”
Both Milan and Bullard highlighted the importance of Fed Independence. This is because Trump’s tested issues on both terms and conditions are actively condemning him for not being publicly exposed and actively lowering policymakers. After CPI data, Trump once again challenged the society of truth, repeatedly demanding attacks and mitigation on Powell. The president said the Fed should cut by 3 percentage points.
“It’s immeasurable that damage (Powell) has been done by being too late all the time,” Trump wrote. “Fortunately, the economy is so good that we blew Powell and the committee of self-complaint.”
Bullard said Trump “has a right to receive his views.”
“He has a long history in the real estate market, and that’s all about borrowing money at the lowest possible rate,” Bullard said. “It’s good for him. He has an opinion, but a lot of people have an opinion. If you don’t want to hear it, this is probably the wrong job.”
