“The Federal Reserve could use that opportunity to communicate that a mild overshooting of inflation is consistent with our goals and to align policy with that statement,” she said.

Mr. Trump’s tariffs, which increased to 25 percent on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods last week and may be imposed on an additional $300 billion of imports, could lift consumer prices in the United States. On Thursday, Walmart, one of the nation’s largest retailers, said Mr. Trump’s tariffs would raise consumer prices.

On Wednesday, John Williams, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and vice chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee, also raised concerns about inflation, saying in a speech in Zurich that global monetary policymakers could find themselves in a bind if they cannot coax prices up. Price gains have been consistently weak in Japan and the European Union, among other advanced economies.

“Investors view these low inflation readings not as an aberration, but rather a new normal,” Mr. Williams said. He argued that central banks should revamp their policy approaches to deal with a low-rate, low-price-gain reality. “Absent such changes, central banks will be severely challenged to achieve stable economies and well-anchored inflation expectations.”

Businesses, consumers and investors in the United States have all been lowering their inflation outlooks. Market-based indicators of expectations have fallen off sharply, and two recent Fed surveys show that both households and professional forecasters see weaker inflation over the next several years.

Given the shaky backdrop, the Fed is engaging in a yearlong review of its own policy strategies. Mr. Powell has described that process as one likely to result in evolution rather than revolution, while other officials have expressed more optimism that it could drive substantial change in how the Fed approaches monetary policy.

Areas up for review include the way the Fed targets inflation. Right now, the Fed shoots for a 2 percent symmetric inflation target, meaning it is always trying to hit exactly that rate. It could instead shoot for 2 percent on average, for example, meaning it would offset low inflation today with higher inflation later.