Neil Irwin

2 days ago | axios.com | Neil Irwin

Fed chair Jerome Powell. Photo: Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesThe Federal Reserve is gearing up to re-evaluate how it sets and communicates monetary policy in light of economic shifts of the last five years, chair Jerome Powell said Thursday. The big picture: The Fed is reviewing its monetary policy framework — the goals and methods it uses to set interest rate policy and communicate it to the public — for the first time since 2020.

3 days ago | axios.com | Neil Irwin

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/AxiosThe signature legislation of this Congress has crossed a key hurdle. But the choices and trade-offs involved in major tax legislation could limit its pro-growth effects. The big picture: The current version of the "one big, beautiful bill," as President Trump calls it, which moved through the House Ways and Means Committee overnight Tuesday, would sunset several key provisions after a few years.

4 days ago | axios.com | Neil Irwin

Illustration: Annelise Capossela/AxiosEven if you squint, there is little sign of the trade war to be found in Tuesday morning's April inflation data. Rather, it's the latest evidence that price pressures were still diminishing before the full onset of new tariffs. Why it matters: The brunt of higher import taxes looks likely to arrive this summer, even with de-escalation in the last several days, and even as the underlying trajectory for inflation looks the best it has in four years.

5 days ago | axios.com | Courtenay Brown |Neil Irwin

Illustration: Aïda Amer/AxiosOn April 2, President Trump appeared ready to blow up the global trade system and effectively divorce the U.S. economy from many major partners. Now it's clear that's not happening. Why it matters: The shock-and-awe of Liberation Day, and the extreme escalation of tariffs on China that followed, amounted to a de facto blockade between the world's two largest economies. That was set to cause a major surge in consumer prices, goods shortages, and lost jobs.

1 week ago | axios.com | Neil Irwin

Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/AxiosThe United States is ripping up longstanding trade arrangements, developing more hostile relationships with allies, and undermining independent institutions, all while rapidly running up more debt. The big picture: That's a recipe for the role of the U.S. dollar as global reserve currency — unquestioned since the end of World War II and at a high-water mark just a decade ago — to fade.