WASHINGTON, May 22 (Xinhua) -- The latest minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) monetary policy meeting showed on Wednesday that the central bank was still "patient" on its future moves of interest rate.
"In light of global economic and financial developments as well as muted inflation pressures, participants generally agreed that a patient approach to determining future adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate remained appropriate," according to the minutes of the latest joint meeting of top Fed officials.
After concluding a two-day policy meeting from April 30 to May 1, the Fed officials decided to maintain the target range for the benchmark federal funds rate at 2.25 percent to 2.5 percent.
As to the current status of U.S. economy, the Fed saw strength in labor market as well as the gap between current inflation level and its 2 percent target.
"Participants judged that the labor market remained strong, and that information received over the intermeeting period showed that economic activity grew at a solid rate," said the records.
"However, both overall inflation and inflation for items other than food and energy had declined and were running below the Committee's 2 percent objective," said the minutes.
The minutes also showed that some Fed officials at the meeting saw some of the risks and uncertainties had moderated, including ongoing trade negotiations. However, a new flare-up in the U.S.-China trade tensions emerged a few days after the Fed meeting, prompted by Washington's surprise decision to raise additional tariffs on 200 billion U.S. dollars' worth of Chinese imports from 10 percent to 25 percent.
The White House also threatened to raise tariffs on more Chinese imports.
In response, China has announced that it will raise additional tariffs on a range of U.S. imports from June 1, and "will fight to the end." Enditem
