Boston Federal Reserve president visits Dover businesses, speaks about state of US economy

DOVER, N.H. —

The president of the Boston Federal Reserve visited New Hampshire on Saturday to hear from Granite Staters about the economy.

Some of the challenges Susan Collins is hearing about include housing and affordability, but she said she is also hearing about the opportunity for innovation and collaboration.

When it comes to tariffs, she’s hearing a mix of reviews.

“There certainly are some parts of the economy where costs went up significantly to get the raw materials for what you’re producing and trying to sell. And then I’ve also heard, while I was here, about companies that see their demand increase because other companies are trying to increase the U.S. production part of their supply chain,” said Susan Collins, president, Boston Federal Reserve.

Collins also said people are feeling uncertain about the cost of transportation and high energy prices amid the conflict in Iran.

Collins called this period of time unusual. She said there’s been a number of shocks, including tariffs, high energy prices, and a focus on artificial intelligence all on the heels of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“So, what I see overall is a lot of resilience in our economy,” Collins said.”A labor market that’s really unusual, that’s overall been relatively stable and inflation that has been too high for over five years.”