The Fed’s slowness to catch the inflation surge that began during the pandemic has earned it scads of criticism. Is this time different?

Fresh off the Federal Reserve’s new economic projections showing officials expect higher inflation and slower growth this year, Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday it’s his “base case” that any bump in price-growth due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs policy would prove transitory.

With the arrival of the tariff inflation, further progress may be delayed,” Powell said. "[The forecast] “doesn’t really show further downward progress on inflation this