A top Federal Reserve official has warned that the US is more vulnerable to inflationary shocks than in the past, as businesses brace for increased protectionism and an onslaught of new economic policies when Donald Trump returns to the White House.
Tom Barkin, president of the Richmond Fed, told the Financial Times that he expected inflation to continue dropping across the world’s largest economy, even though progress has plateaued, according to monthly data released by government agencies.
But he cautioned that businesses were passing on costs to consumers more readily than in the past — although to a much lesser extent than at the height of the coronavirus pandemic — which was having an impact on prices.