Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran stated Friday that the central bank has begun an easing cycle with its recent rate cut and expressed hope to convince fellow policymakers to implement larger cuts at future meetings.
In an interview with Fox Business Network, Miran, who is currently on unpaid leave from his position as White House economic advisor, said monetary policy remains "pretty restrictive" and warned that "the longer it stays restrictive, the bigger the risk."
Miran dissented from the Fed’s decision on Wednesday to cut rates by a quarter percentage point, advocating instead for a half-point reduction. He believes the Fed should implement half-point cuts at each of the next two meetings as well, a position more aggressive than any other Fed policymaker currently supports.
"I’ll be trying to convince other Fed policymakers to cut rates faster," Miran said, confirming "we are in an easing cycle."
The new Fed governor downplayed inflation concerns related to tariffs, stating he doesn’t "see material inflation from tariffs" and noting that "people have been moving in the direction of thinking tariff inflation is less than previously thought."
"I think that folks will eventually continue to come around to the view that any inflationary spike that you get from tariffs is not significant enough to be a significant driver of monetary policy," Miran explained.
He also pointed to "disinflationary forces" currently at work, including lower immigration, and suggested that "comparing goods inflation this year to prepandemic trends is the wrong comparison."
Regarding economic conditions, Miran attributed the slow economy in the first half of the year to "uncertainty that’s mostly dissipated" now.
