Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, in Washington, DC, on September 17, 2025. Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg/Getty Images Washington —

The Federal Reserve is doing a difficult balancing act , trying to tamp down inflation while lifting up the job market, Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday.

“There is no risk-free path for policy as we navigate the tension between our employment and inflation goals,” Powell said in prepared remarks for an event hosted by the National Association for Business Economics.

President Donald Trump’s sweeping policies on trade, immigration and government spending have thrust the world’s most powerful central bank into a tricky situation rarely seen since it was established more than a century ago.

Trump’s tariffs have already pushed up some prices

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