Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is sticking to his position that the central bank will keep its key rate on hold while it waits to see how President Donald Trump’s tariffs effect the economy, defying the steady stream of criticism from the White House,

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told a financial conference in Portugal on Tuesday that he would have lowered interest rates if not for President Trump's tariffs. The White House all-but directly asked the Fed to lower rates yesterday,

Asked about Trump’s barrage of insults, Powell’s comment that the Fed was focused “100%” on its inflation and jobs target drew applause from the audience at a European