Inflation has fallen sharply and as a result Fed officials have signaled they will cut rates by as much as a half-percentage point this year. Yet it has picked up a bit in the last two months and many of those policymakers, including Powell, still want to make sure that tariffs aren’t going to lift inflation much higher before they make a move.

The long-simmering clash between President Donald Trump and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell was on full public display during a Thursday afternoon tour of the renovation site at the central bank’s headquarters in Washington,