Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neil Kashkari did not want to cut interest rates last month and may not need to cut any anytime soon given the resilience of the labor market and inflation above the Fed’s target, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

“I don’t see any motivation to cut in January,” Kashkari was quoted as saying in an interview with the newspaper, adding that it was “too soon” for a rate cut, which could be possible later this year.

Kashkari told the New York Times that he found some comfort that lawmakers from both political parties expressed support for an independent Fed and Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

The Trump administration subpoenaed Powell over comments he made to Congress last summer, which the Fed chair said were an attempt to intimidate the central bank into cutting rates.

The Fed is widely expected to leave the policy rate in its current 3.50%-3.75% range when it meets in two weeks, after cutting 75 basis points in 2025, including a quarter-of-a-percentage point cut approved by a 9-3 vote at its December meeting.

Kashkari, who has a vote on the rate-setting panel this year, suggested he might support a rate cut later this year if the unemployment rate, at 4.4% in December, rises, especially if inflation eases.

But for now, he said, inflation that has been above the Fed’s 2% target for years and could remain there for another two or three years is “very worrying,” the newspaper reported.

A government report on Tuesday showed that consumer prices rose 2.7% last month from a year earlier.