Fed Governor Calls for Rate Cuts as Soon as July

An influential governor on the Federal Reserve said on Friday that the nation’s central bank should begin lowering interest rates as early as July, arguing that policymakers should not wait for the labor market to weaken before they reduce borrowing costs.

The comments from Christopher J. Waller came days after he joined 11 other officials in voting to leave rates unchanged. But Mr. Waller said the Fed could act as soon as next month, citing the fact that its main reason for holding off — price increases from the president’s tariffs — may prove only temporary.

Mr. Waller’s stance puts him at odds with some members of the Fed, including Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, who stressed earlier this week that the central bank should remain patient as it tries to assess the full effect of Mr. Trump’s economic policies, including tariffs. The decision to freeze rates again angered the president, who has tried to pressure the Fed for months into adopting steep and immediate rate cuts.

In an appearance on CNBC, Mr. Waller, who was appointed by Mr. Trump, suggested that the Fed could begin cutting rates more quickly than many had expected given this week’s policy statement and economic projections. While he described the job market as “solid,” he also acknowledged recent data showing that some Americans, including college graduates, are experiencing difficulty in finding employment.

He said some of those indicators are “suggesting that maybe the labor market is starting to soften more than we might want it to.”

Mr. Waller also said he did not believe trade policy, in particular, would produce a sustained, long-term bout of inflation, explaining that “not all of this is going to be passed through” to consumers.