Stephen Miran, President Trump’s newly confirmed pick to the Federal Reserve board, said on Friday that uncertainty around U.S. trade policies was partly responsible for slow economic growth this year.
Miran, who was confirmed on Wednesday in time to join the Fed meeting Thursday, said growth in the first half of the year was “weaker than we hoped it would be” during an appearance on CNBC.
“And as recent revisions to data indicated was even weaker than we thought,” he said. “But I think that was caused in part by headwinds to the economy from uncertainty around trade policy and tax policy.”
“You know, there was the risk of the biggest tax hike in history, and that’s been taken off the table, and that’s been replaced with some powerful investment incentives. And there was uncertainty from trade policy, which has been replaced by trade deals and investment commitments,” he added.
Trump repeatedly warned of an increase in taxes for Americans if the tax cuts from his first term were not extended, which happened as part of his “big, beautiful bill” passed earlier this year.
Miran, who served on the White House Council of Economic Advisers before being tapped for the Fed role, predicted that economic growth would pick up in the second half of the year.
Trump’s tariffs and the massive GOP tax cuts are set to have competing effects on the economy, according to the latest outlook report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Tariffs are expected to rein in economic growth, while tax cuts are expected to boost it through increases in capital stock and productivity.
Facing this increased stagflationary mix, the Federal Reserve this week cut the baseline interest rate by 0.25 percent, its first reduction in months.
Trump has fumed at the Federal Reserve for holding interest rates steady, while blaming a weakening labor market on bad numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The Labor Department reported earlier this month that the nation had created nearly 1 million fewer jobs from March 2024 to March 2025. While the data mostly falls during former President Biden’s administration, the report offered further evidence the labor market is struggling.
Trump, who fired the head of BLS last month, said “real” jobs numbers will come next year, speaking to reporters before the latest report was released.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has repeatedly drawn Trump’s fire from the leader for warning of potential downturns in the economy due to the president’s economic policies.
“While tariffs are highly likely to generate at least a temporary rise in inflation, it is also possible that the effects could be more persistent,” Powell said earlier this year.
Currently, the legality of Trump’s sweeping trade policy is being challenged in court. The Supreme Court agreed to hear his administration’s argument defending the president’s use of emergency powers to set exchange rates on Nov. 5.
Last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a 7-4 decision affirmed a lower court’s ruling that the tariffs were not authorized by relevant statute.
In the past two months, the Trump administration has struck several agreements with foreign partners, including the European Union.