The Trump administration is poised to hit dozens of nations around the world with higher tariffs starting next week.

The Federal Reserve kept US interest rates on hold for the fifth meeting in a row yesterday, defying an aggressive campaign from President Donald Trump to slash borrowing costs. Fed chair Jay Powell said after the meeting that “it seems to me — and to almost the whole committee — that the economy is not performing as though restrictive policy is holding it back inappropriately”.

The Federal Reserve left its key interest rate unchanged at 4.25% to 4.5% and offered no clues on whether it will resume its rate cuts in September.