#FOMCMeeting

Fed officials have been under a communications "blackout" over the past week in advance of the meeting, but before they went silent, members of the Federal Open Market Committee said they wanted to see how the economy responded to Trump's tariffs before making any policy moves.

In recent weeks, Fed officials have said they're reluctant to lower interest rates from their current elevated levels because they're concerned Trump's tariffs will reignite the high inflation that has fallen to within shooting distance of the Fed's target of a 2% annual rate, after surging in the post-pandemic era. For his part, Trump has frequently browbeaten the Fed for not having cut rates this year.

The Federal Reserve is widely expected to hold its key interest rate steady when the central bank's policy committee meets Wednesday, possibly provoking more wrath from President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly demand the Fed, which is not under direct control of the White House, cut its benchmark interest rate by an entire percentage point.