Fed minutes show little support for interest rate cut later this month

Only “a couple” of officials at the Federal Reserve's June 17-18 meeting said they felt interest rates could be reduced as soon as this month, with most policymakers remaining worried about the inflationary pressure they expect to come from President Donald Trump's use of tariffs to reshape global trade. Trump has demanded immediate, steep cuts, and called for Fed Chair Jerome Powell to resign.

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The minutes released, however, showed only narrow support for a near-term reduction in borrowing costs among the Fed's 19 policymakers, with “some” of them feeling no rate cut would be needed at all.

“Most participants” at the Fed's meeting last month anticipated rate cuts would be appropriate later this year, with any price shock from tariffs expected to be “temporary or modest,” the minutes said. There was no indication that any policymaker felt the US central bank's benchmark overnight rate, currently in the 4.25 per cent-4.50 per cent range, should be cut by several percentage points, as Trump wants.