WASHINGTON - The US central bank is widely expected to hold off slashing interest rates again at its upcoming meeting, as officials gather under the cloud of an intensifying pressure campaign by President Donald Trump.
Policymakers at the independent Federal Reserve have kept the benchmark lending rate steady since the start of the year as they monitor how Trump's sweeping tariffs are impacting the world's biggest economy.
With Trump's on-again, off-again tariff approach -- and the levies' lagged effects on inflation -- Fed officials want to see economic data from this summer to gauge how prices are being affected.
When mulling changes to interest rates, the central bank -- which meets on Tuesday and Wednesday -- seeks a balance between reining in inflation and the health of the jobs market.
But the bank's data-dependent approach has enraged the Republican president, who has repeatedly criticised Fed Chair Jerome Powell for not slashing rates further, calling him a "numbskull" and "moron."
Most recently, Trump signalled he could use the Fed's $2.5-billion renovation project as an avenue to oust Powell, before backing off and saying that would be unlikely.
Trump visited the Fed construction site on Thursday, making a tense appearance with Powell in which the Fed chair disputed Trump's characterisation of the total cost of the refurbishment in front of the cameras.
But economists expect the Fed to look past the political pressure at its policy meeting.