Fed likely to resist Trump’s push for rate cuts

The US Federal Reserve is set to hold its third meeting since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, facing pressure from the president and navigating a volatile economic landscape.

The central bank is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged, maintaining the current range of 4.25% to 4.50%, where they have remained since December.

Federal Reserve officials indicated that they want to first observe how the economy responds to the scale of Trump’s aggressive protectionist measures.

“Whether the economy enters a recession or not, it's hard to say at this point,” Loretta Mester, who recently stepped down after a decade as president of the Cleveland Fed, told AFP.

She described freezing interest rates as "the right thing to do," while remaining prepared to lower them more quickly if a clear downturn in economic activity emerges.