Here Are the Biggest Tariff Concerns in the Fed's Beige Book

The U.S. economy may still be expanding at the now-familiar “modest to moderate pace,” but a new theme pervaded the Federal Reserve’s latest Beige Book report: tariffs and the threat of a trade war. The word “tariff” appeared 36 times in the report compared with zero references in the prior survey. Here are some of the highlights from the business survey released Wednesday, by regional Fed district:

“In general, respondents were optimistic in their outlook. However, two contacts brought up the proposed China tariffs and said they represent a major risk. One was a toy manufacturer who sources 75 percent of their production from China. The second said that punitive tariffs on Chinese aluminum had already had a big effect: ‘Thin gauge foil’ is produced only in China and tariffs raised the price three-fold; the contact argued that ‘these tariffs are now killing high-paying American manufacturing jobs and businesses.”’