More tariffs are in the pipeline from Marketplace. I'm Sabri Beneshore in for David Bruncaccio. On top of everything, the trade war simmers on. Yesterday, the U.S. Trade Representative announced an investigation that could result in a whole new round of import taxes. Marketplaces Nancy Marshall Ganser has more.

The Trump administration is investigating more than a dozen countries, including China, Vietnam,

India, and the European Union, using Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. The U.S.

Trade Representative's office will be looking into whether these countries are producing too much, flooding the U.S. with cheap products and making it hard for American companies to compete. But unlike the tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court last month, Section 301 levies can't be imposed right away. First, there has to be an investigation, public comment period,

and a hearing scheduled for May. The Trump administration wants the Section 301 tariffs to

replace a temporary 10% import tax President Trump imposed last month, which is due to expire in July.

I'm Nancy Marshall Genser for Marketplace.

The Federal Reserve is meeting this coming week to figure out what to do with interest rates in this country. Interest rates are how the Fed manages two problems in the economy,

unemployment and inflation. And the tricky thing is it cannot fight both at the same time.

Higher interest rates fight inflation, but are bad for jobs.

Lower interest rates are good for jobs, but bad for inflation.

So it's got a pick.

And the war in the Middle East is making that a whole lot harder to do.

Marketplaces, Justin Ho has that.

It's a pretty safe bet that the Fed is keeping an eye on the war in Iran and its effect on energy prices, says Menzsche Chen, an economics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

I think they will be eager to make sure that they show commitment to not let inflation get out of hand.

Chin says the Fed usually focuses on core inflation, which strips out energy prices, since they can

jump around month to month. But he says the Fed is also going to consider scenarios where the conflict

drags on, keeping energy prices high for a while. And if it's sustained, then that's going to feed

into core prices eventually.

That's because the cost of energy can affect prices throughout the economy.

You think of something like airfares, which are in quote unquote core inflation,

...