Federal Reserve chair defends holding interest rates after fresh Trump attacks

Jerome Powell says central bank is waiting to see tariffs' impact on US prices as president claims incompetence'

The Federal Reserve is well placed to wait and see how tariffs affect US prices before cutting interest rates, its chair, Jerome Powell, insisted, defying renewed demands from Donald Trump.

The US president has disregarded the central bank's longstanding independence to repeatedly call for rate cuts to spur economic growth and launch a series of personal attacks on Powell.