Can The Fed Stop a Trade War?
b'Jerome Powell\\xa0has only been serving as Chairman of the Federal Reserve since February, but he\'s already having\\xa0to contend with some unusual circumstances.\\xa0This week, he\\xa0appeared before Congress to speak about the state of the economy. \\nLawmakers wanted to know what America\\u2019s top central banker thinks about\\xa0President Trump\'s\\xa0steadily escalating trade war. Since January, Trump has imposed or threatened to impose tariffs on 10,000 different products the U.S. imports from Mexico, Canada, Europe, and China. Those countries are retaliating with tariffs of their own.\\nPowell avoided commenting on Trump\'s tariffs,\\xa0but did share the view of many economists on trade: "In general, countries that have remained open to trade that haven\\u2019t erected barriers including tariffs have grown faster, had higher incomes, had higher productivity and countries that have gone in more protectionist direction have done worse", said Powell.\\xa0"I think that\\u2019s the empirical result."\\nThis week on Money Talking, Ilya Marritz speaks to\\xa0Neil Irwin of The New York Times on America\\u2019s growing protectionism, and how the Fed is preparing for it.'