Minutes of Fed's March meeting indicate its wait-and-see approach

The minutes of the Federal Reserve's (Fed) March meeting were published yesterday. US officials kept interest rates unchanged, expressing their concerns about negative consequences of Donald Trump's tariff policy. They believe that a slowdown in the country's economic growth, a reduction in the inflow of investment and an acceleration of inflation cannot be ruled out. The combination of these factors forces the Fed to take a cautious approach in determining the future course of monetary policy, Reuters reports.

However, the agency also notes that US officials made such statements before the announcement of new import tariffs on April 2. With the threat of tightening trade relations between the world's leading economy and other countries, the stock markets plummeted and fears of recession increased. Later Trump reconsidered his decision on the tariffs.

The Fed is already seeing signs of accelerating inflation in the US. In case of retaliatory measures from the countries affected by the American restrictions, consumer price growth may gain momentum. However, the central bank is likely to take a wait-and-see approach amid global uncertainty, Reuters says.