Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller on Wednesday repeated his call for an interest-rate cut in September given the weakening in the labor market, and said that how fast the central bank cuts after that will depend on what happens next in the economy.
"I think we need to start cutting rates at the next meeting, and then we don't have to go in a locked sequence of steps," Waller said in an interview on CNBC. "We can kind of see where things are going, because people are still worried about tariff inflation ... I would say over the next three to six months, we could see multiple cuts coming in."
Waller, one of two Fed governors who dissented in favor of a rate-cut in July, said he believes tariffs may push up inflation over the next several months, but said he expects that to be temporary and for inflation to resume falling back toward the Fed's 2% goal in six or seven months.
Given the drop in labor demand, he said, the Fed should start bringing the policy rate, now in the 4.25%-4.50% range, down toward an estimated neutral rate of 3% -- with the pace of adjustments to depend on the economic data.
Waller said he has spoken with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in the past but has not had an interview for the job of Fed chair and does not yet have one scheduled. Bessent is expected to have a round of interviews for the job starting Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported.
