United States Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari, in an interview with CNN, declined to comment on President Donald Trump's decision to fire Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Commissioner Erika McEntarfer, saying personnel decisions are the president's call.
"We at the Fed lean on and rely on the best economic data we can get," Kashkari said, citing both government sources like the BLS and private sector data to guide monetary policy. When asked whether he saw any signs of political interference in the data, Kashkari said the figures he reviewed, public and private, tell the same story about the economy. "I'm confident that we will do everything in our power to make decisions just based on the data, not based on politics," he said. "The data was worse than I had expected. But when tariffs go up, you expect prices to go up and the economy to slow and we're seeing both of those effects."
Regarding the resignation of Federal Reserve Governor Adriana Kugler, Kashkari called her a "very good colleague" and said her decision came as a surprise. However, he noted her term was set to expire in January and the president was already expected to appoint a replacement.
