Ongoing uncertainty regarding the Trump administration’s tariff policies is impacting economic confidence around the country, according to the latest issue of the Beige Book.
Compiled eight times annually, the Beige Book is published by the Federal Reserve and regarded as an important overview of how the economy is faring based on interviews with economists, market experts, bankers, business contacts, and others.
In an overview of the latest report, it is noted that only five of the Federal Reserve’s twelve districts saw growth in the past few months, with the economic activity in three districts largely unchanged, and four showing “slight to modest declines.”
Prices increased across all districts, with supply firms “adding tariff surcharges or shortening price horizons to account for uncertain trade policy.”
Reports from the 10th district, which includes all of Colorado and the northern half of New Mexico, said that most contacts indicated that the “most likely change to their business plans this year would be to the prices charged for their finished products.” Accordingly, expectations for price growth have risen at a “robust rate.”
At the same time job growth in the 10th district has proven subdued as “hiring freezes reportedly became a more common occurrence.”
In the 11th district, which includes all of Texas and the southern half of New Mexico, “Input cost pressures accelerated largely due to the unexpected pass-through of higher tariff costs.”
Numerous contacts in the 11th district “voiced concerns that heightened uncertainty stemming from on-again, off-again tariffs was making it increasingly challenging to plan.”
Overall employment in the 11th district, meanwhile, “rose modestly over the reporting period.”
Reports from the 12th district, taking in all of Arizona, saw a “step-down in economic activity that was broad based, reported many industries and different geographies.”
As with the other districts, tariff uncertainty in the 12th remains the topic of the hour, with contacts reporting increased prices for “a wide range of imported goods and raw materials, including aluminum, steel, lumber, electrical components, apparel, footwear, as well as various wholesale and retail food items.”
April 28, 2025
By Garry Boulard
