"Fed mouthpiece" Nick Timiraos: New economic forecasts show that 11 of the 19 FOMC policymakers expect the Fed to cut interest rates at least twice this year, down from 15 in December. At the same time, they expect inflation to rise to 2.7% this year from 2.5% in January. "This is actually due to the upcoming tariffs, and progress on reducing inflation'may be temporarily delayed, '" Powell said. For now, these projections show that officials believe price growth will slow in 2026 and 2027, meaning they see no reason to adopt a different rate setting than before the tariffs were implemented. "If inflation is going to go away very quickly without us acting, then it may be appropriate to turn a blind eye to inflation at times," Mr. Powell said. "That may be the case with tariff inflation."