by Howard Schneider
Reuters.com
NEW YORK, March 7 (Reuters) – A soft landing from inflation may still be in sight, but when Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks in New York on Friday he will be facing a tangled set of new risks to that long-sought goal, from a global trade war that could reignite price pressures to hints public expectations may be shifting in a bad way for the U.S. central bank.
Powell will deliver his remarks to an economic conference just ahead of the communications blackout for the Fed’s March 18-19 policy meeting. It will be his chance to publicly assess the still-developing economic impact of the expansive tariffs President Donald Trump has slapped on imports from major U.S. trading partners, with more expected, the new administration’s efforts to downsize the federal government and contract spending, and stricter immigration rules.