May 13 (Reuters) - Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari said on Wednesday that the U.S. labor market looks "a bit better" than it did earlier this year, while the Iran war has worsened inflation that already was running too high, views that underscore his preference for leaving the Fed's door open to possible rate hikes.
"We are dead serious about getting inflation back down," Kashkari said at a St. Paul Area Chamber event in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Kashkari was one of three Fed policymakers
who dissented at the Fed's April meeting, advocating for a change to the Fed's post-meeting statement that would reflect openness to rate hikes and not just rate cuts.
He spoke as the U.S. Senate prepared to confirm Kevin Warsh as the Fed's new chair. President Donald Trump says he expects the Fed to cut rates under Warsh.
"The chair of the Federal Reserve has a lot of influence. The chair sets the agenda. What are the topics we're going to talk about? What are the types of things that we're going to be considering in this deliberation?" Kashkari said in response to a question about whether Warsh will deliver the rate cuts Trump wants. "But when it comes down to a vote (on interest rates), the chair is one of 12 voters. And so a new chair coming in, whoever the chair is, whatever the environment is, will have to persuade his or her colleagues that this is the best course of action."
(Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Nia Williams and Andrea Ricci )
