Neil Irwin

2 weeks ago | axios.com | Neil Irwin

Richmond Fed president Tom Barkin. Photo: Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesThe trade war is likely to cause fewer jobs and higher prices, a top Federal Reserve official tells Axios. But price hikes may not show up until the summer, as companies work through pre-tariff inventories.

2 weeks ago | axios.com | Neil Irwin

2 weeks ago | axios.com | Neil Irwin

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/AxoisLet's go back to basics. What is a tariff, what role do they play in the economy, and how have they been applied, both historically and now? The big picture: Tariffs were once the primary way the United States collected tax revenue, but over time elected leaders and economists alike have rejected them for their many downsides. President Trump is seeking to reverse that long tide. The basics: A tariff is a tax on imported goods.

3 weeks ago | axios.com | Neil Irwin

Fed chair Jerome Powell. Photo: Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu via Getty ImagesFederal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said Friday that bigger-than-expected tariffs will translate into higher inflation and slower economic growth — and that the higher inflation could be persistent, not temporary. Why it matters: Powell's remarks suggest that the Fed will offer no imminent relief from plunging markets and scrambled supply chains.

3 weeks ago | axios.com | Neil Irwin

One of the surprises out of Wednesday's big tariffs announcement was that the Trump administration used a surprisingly simplistic approach to calculating these much-hyped reciprocal tariffs. Why it matters: This was not a finely tuned set of import taxes calibrated to exert pressure on trading partners to adjust specific policies with which the U.S. has grievances.