FILE PHOTO: Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan speaks with an attendee at an annual energy conference at the Dallas Fed headquarters in Dallas, Texas, U.S. September 7, 2018. REUTERS/Ann Saphir

DALLAS (Reuters) - Proposals to curb immigration will weigh on economic growth in the United States where the existing workforce is growing more slowly as the population ages, Dallas Federal Reserve president Robert Kaplan said on Thursday.

“If you think you are actually going to cut the number of immigrants and grow GDP, those two things do not go together ... You need to grow the workforce,” Kaplan said.

He suggested the United States consider reforms that would allow more immigration based on surveys of needed skills. “Trade and immigration loom very large as opportunities for the U.S. to grow faster as opposed to threats.”