Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers thinks it was a mistake for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to use the term “transitory” in a recent briefing about inflation.
“I would have thought the chairman would retire the word ‘transitory,’” Summers said in a March 20 interview with Bloomberg TV.
“I was astonished to see him resurrect that concept.”
U.S. central bank officials released their economic projections for the rest of 2025 at the March policy meeting, lifting their inflation expectations higher.
At the same time, business and consumer surveys have revealed rising inflation forecasts for the year ahead.
But while Powell thinks tariffs could delay the Federal Reserve’s inflation progress and trigger price increases, he believes the potential effects of trade policy changes will be short-lived….