Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell ramped up his war of words with President Donald Trump on Tuesday, blaming the commander-in-chief’s tariffs for holding up interest rate cuts.

Powell told a central banking conference in Portugal that the looming threat of a global trade war had slammed the brakes on plans to slash the key rate of borrowing that impacts what ordinary Americans pay on their home loans or credit cards.

“We went on hold when we saw the size of the tariffs. All inflation forecasts for the United States went up materially as a consequence,” he said during a panel organized by the European Central Bank.