By Charles Young, WV News
BRIDGEPORT (WV News) — Navigating the current climate of economic uncertainty brought on by constantly changing tariffs is akin to “driving through fog,” said Tom Barkin, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
Barkin, addressing a meeting of the West Virginia Business Roundtable on Monday evening at Pete Dye Golf Club, said businesses have the same set of options before them as the driver trying to traverse a treacherous road.
“You don’t want to put your foot on the accelerator because you don’t know if you’re going to go off the cliff,” he said. “You don’t want to put your foot on the brake because you don’t know who is going to run into you.”
There’s only one sensible course of action to take, Barkin said.
“Which is to pull over and put on the hazards,” he said. “And that’s what’s happening to businesses — they are pulling over and putting on the hazards as they wait to see where this lands.”