#PowellRemarks CHICAGO, April 16 (Reuters) - U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday the Fed would wait for more data on the economy's direction before changing interest rates, but cautioned that President Donald Trump's tariff policies risked pushing inflation and employment further from the central bank's goals.

Powell, speaking for the first time since Trump last week paused some of the more stringent of his barrage of tariffs, also characterized the ensuing market volatility of recent weeks as a logical processing of the Trump administration's dramatic shifts in trade policy - not a sign of stress that warranted a Fed response.

For the time being, we are well positioned to wait for greater clarity before considering any adjustments to our policy stance," Powell said in a speech to the Economic Club of Chicago.

In a later question-and-answer session he noted a potentially tough situation developing in which prices are pushed higher by tariffs while growth and possibly the labor market weaken, leaving both inflation and employment further away from the Fed's desired levels.

The Fed tries to keep inflation stable at 2% while sustaining maximum employment.

"I do think we'll be moving away from those goals, probably for the balance of this year. Or at least not making any progress," due to the impact of tariffs that so far have proved larger than even the most severe scenarios in Fed planning estimates, Powell said.