U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told lawmakers on Tuesday the argument for free trade still makes sense but added that it was not the role of the central bank to comment on tariff or trade policy but to react to how it impacts the economy.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the latest consumer price data show that while the central bank has made substantial progress toward taming inflation, there is still more work to do.

Powell defended the central bank’s independence from elected lawmakers’ desires. “Research over many, many years…shows that some degree of independence is very important in keeping inflation under control,