President Donald Trump's order imposing new tariffs on scores of countries and the European Union starting in seven days has injected a new dose of uncertainty in an already uncertain process.

The Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation edged higher in June, the Commerce Department reported on Thursday. Consumer prices ticked up 0.3% for the month and 2.6% year over year, according to the government’s Personal Consumption Expenditures price index.

It is too soon to know whether the United States is on a similar path. But economists and other experts said that Mr. Trump’s decision on Friday to fire Erika McEntarfer, the Senate-confirmed head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, was a troubling step in that direction.

President Donald Trump’s firing of the chief labor statistician was criticized by her predecessor, who called it an unfounded move that will undermine confidence in a key data set on the US economy.