Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee acknowledged in a Fox News interview that while hard data, like the low 4.1% unemployment rate, still point to economic resilience, soft data are painting a gloomier picture.
Goolsbee highlighted the noticeable decline in business and consumer sentiment. Goolsbee said that this shift reflects growing uncertainty and fear regarding tariffs.
“They don’t want to go back to the kind of inflationary environment that we had in ’21 and ’22. And we’re just going to have to see how this plays out,” he added.
Goolsbee emphasized that while imports make up only around 11% of the U.S. economy — potentially limiting the direct inflationary impact of tariffs — there are wider concerns.
“The fear is if it jumps out of the 11% lane,” he warned, noting that cascading effects from uncertainty could stall consumer spending or business investment.
