DALLAS FED CONCERNS: The president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank says he's concerned about the effect of new steel tariffs on oil production. Robert Kaplan told CNBC Television, Texas produces record levels of oil in the Permian Basin, but the state's facing capacity constraints.
"One of the constraints we have is worker shortages, but a bigger constraint is infrastructure. One of those infrastructure issues is pipeline capacity," explained Kaplan. "That takes steel. And with steel tariffs, a
number of people in the business have told me, their concern that with these steel tariffs, it will certainly raise the cost of the pipeline infrastructure, may slow the development of it."
Kaplan said the tariffs are having an overall modest impact on the economy, but business leaders worry about an extended trade war.