Just when inflation was within striking distance of the Federal Reserves monetary policy target of 2%, allowing them to begin cutting rates last year, tariffs as a forceful policy choice of the US administration. Higher import duties have disrupted plans to ease rates and extend the soft landing of the US economy further. Tariffs also now appear to have introduced high uncertainty in the US labor market and the staffing plans of corporations, creating a potential demand-side dampening of any inflation that tariffs and still-constrained labor supply might create. Which way do we head from here? Michael Metcalfe, Global Head of Macro Strategy at State Street Markets, joins the podcast once more with his read of what faster-moving, alternative measures of data are suggesting.