US Fed to pause cuts again as it waits for clarity on tariffs

THE US Federal Reserve is widely expected to extend a recent pause in rate cuts this week as it waits to see how President Donald Trump's stop-start tariff roll-out affects the health of the world’s largest economy.

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Trump has imposed steep levies on China, and lower “baseline” levies of 10 percent on goods from most other countries, along with 25% duties on specific items like steel, automobiles and aluminum.

The president has also paused higher duties on dozens of other trading partners until July to give them time to renegotiate existing arrangements with the US.

Most economists expect the tariffs introduced since January to push up prices and cool economic growth - at least in the short run - potentially keeping the Fed on hold for longer.

“The Fed has to be very focused on maintaining inflation so that it doesn't start moving back up in a more persistent way,” said Loretta Mester, who recently stepped down after a decade as president of the Cleveland Fed.

“That would undermine all the work that was done over the last three years of getting inflation down,’ she said.