An influential governor on the Federal Reserve said on Friday that the nation’s central bank should begin lowering interest rates as early as July, arguing that policymakers should not wait for the labor market to weaken before they reduce borrowing costs.

The comments from Christopher J. Waller came days after he joined 11 other officials in voting to leave rates unchanged. But Mr. Waller said the Fed could act as soon as next month, citing the fact that its main reason for holding off — price increases from the president’s tariffs — may prove only temporary.

Mr. Waller’s stance puts him at odds with some members of the Fed, including Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, who stressed earlier this week that the central bank should remain patient as it tries to assess the full effect of Mr. Trump’s economic policies, including tariffs. The decision to freeze rates again angered the president, who has tried to pressure the Fed for months into adopting steep and immediate rate cuts.

In an appearance on CNBC, Mr. Waller, who was appointed by Mr. Trump, suggested that the Fed could begin cutting rates more quickly than many had expected given this week’s policy statement and economic projections. While he described the job market as “solid,” he also acknowledged recent data showing that some Americans, including college graduates, are experiencing difficulty in finding employment.

He said some of those indicators are “suggesting that maybe the labor market is starting to soften more than we might want it to.”

Mr. Waller also said he did not believe trade policy, in particular, would produce a sustained, long-term bout of inflation, explaining that “not all of this is going to be passed through” to consumers.

“I think we’ve got room to bring it down,” Mr. Waller said of interest rates. “And then, we can kind-of see what happens with inflation.”

If prices do rise, “you could just pause,” he later added, making the case that the Fed has room to “start the process" as soon as next month.

Mr. Waller’s comments carry political significance at a time when the president has openly mused about replacements for Mr. Powell, whose term expires next May. Mr. Waller’s optimism offered a notable contrast with Mr. Powell’s cautiousness after the Fed announced a widely anticipated decision to keep the benchmark interest rate in a range of 4.25 to 4.5 percent.

Speaking to reporters at his customary news conference on Wednesday, Mr. Powell reiterated that the central bank was not in a hurry to act, especially when the full effects of Mr. Trump’s tariffs and other geopolitical developments were not yet clear.

Instead, Mr. Powell reaffirmed his commitment to a “wait and see” approach, as officials continue to assess how Mr. Trump’s policies may affect the central bank’s dual mandate of stable prices and maximum employment. For now, he said, prices remains steady, while there is “nothing that’s troubling” in the labor market. But Mr. Powell also acknowledged that it might take months before policymakers can truly measure the impact of the president’s policies.

“Everyone that I know is forecasting a meaningful increase in inflation in coming months from tariffs because someone has to pay for the tariffs,” Mr. Powell said.

Fed officials released new economic projections this week that showed a potential disagreement in the central bank’s approach to cutting rates later this year. Some officials still penciled in two rate cuts this year, but 9 of the 19 policymakers forecast the Fed doing far less. Seven policymakers forecast no more reductions in 2025 and two predicted just one quarter-point move.

Mr. Trump, for his part, has called for as much as a 2.5 percentage point rate cut, citing the fact that high interest rates affect the government’s own borrowing costs, making federal debt more expensive.

“I call him every name in the book trying to get him to do something,” Mr. Trump lamented at an event at the White House earlier this week, as he attacked Mr. Powell again for refusing to lower rates.

But Mr. Waller appeared to rule out supporting a steep, immediate reduction, saying on Friday that the Fed should “start slow.” He also maintained that it was not the Fed’s job to use interest rate cuts as a way of guaranteeing “cheap financing to the U.S. government,” though he did not reference the president’s comments directly.

The S&P 500 started the day slightly lower but that still marked a rally from steeper losses in the futures market overnight.

The market response to Mr. Waller’s comments was muted in part because he is seen as an outsider, vying for the position of Mr. Powell’s replacement, and not broadly representative of the other Fed governors at the moment.

Investors increased bets that the Fed would lower interest rates sooner than October, but only marginally. Lower interest rates loosen financial conditions, making debt cheaper and typically boosting growth. Longer dated Treasury yields rose.

Colby Smith and Joe Rennison contributed reporting.