ECB leaves interest rates unchanged as it assesses impact of Trump tariffs

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"2">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>The European Central Bank has left interest rates unchanged as it waits to see how big a blow US President Donald Trump’s tariffs will inflict on the economy before deciding whether to cut rates again&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The bank’s governing council announced on Thursday at its headquarters in Frankfurt that it would leave its benchmark deposit rate at 2&percnt;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The economy has so far proven resilient overall in a challenging global environment&comma;” said bank president Christine Lagarde at her post-decision news conference&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;At the same time&comma; the environment remains exceptionally uncertain&comma; especially because of trade disputes&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The ECB has already cut rates eight times since June of last year and Ms Lagarde said after the last policy meeting on June 5 that the central bank is &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;getting to the end of a monetary policy cycle”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;186792" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-186792" style&equals;"width&colon; 640px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;londonglossy&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2025&sol;07&sol;IMG&lowbar;9287&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"640" height&equals;"427" class&equals;"size-full wp-image-186792" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-186792" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">US President Donald Trump sent the EU a letter informing officials of a potential 30&percnt; tariff<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The monetary authority for the 20 countries that use the euro currency has been lowering rates to support growth after raising them in 2022-2023 to snuff out inflation caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the rebound after the pandemic&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>With the benchmark rate now at 2&percnt;&comma; down from a record high of 4&percnt;&comma; analysts think there could be one more rate cut coming&comma; but only in September&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The reason&comma; say analysts&colon; The ECB’s policymakers simply do not know the outcome of talks between the EU’s executive commission and the Trump administration&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Trump first set a 20&percnt; tariff for EU goods&comma; then threatened 50&percnt; after expressing displeasure at the pace of talks&comma; then sent the EU a letter informing officials of a potential 30&percnt; tariff&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>EU officials earlier held out hope of winning at least the 10&percnt; baseline that applies to almost all trade partners&comma; and analysts think the actual rate may be lower than Mr Trump’s tariff threats&period; The talks are up against an August 1 deadline&comma; but earlier deadlines have slipped as the sides kept talking&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>With signs of economic activity holding up reasonably well&comma; the ECB can afford to wait and see what the outcome of trade negotiations will be&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Higher tariffs&comma; or import taxes&comma; on European goods would mean sellers would have to either increase prices for US consumers – risking loss of market share – or swallow the added cost in terms of lower profits&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In either case&comma; higher tariffs would hurt export earnings for European firms and slow the economy&comma; which would strengthen the case for another rate cut in September&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The ECB’s rate cuts have helped support economic activity by lowering the cost of credit for consumers and businesses to purchase goods&period; Higher rates have the opposite effect and are used to cool off inflation by reducing demand for goods&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Growth in the eurozone was relatively strong at 0&period;6&percnt; in the first quarter – though that was partly thanks to rushed shipments of goods trying to beat the tariffs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Inflation has fallen from double digits in late 2022 to 2&percnt; in June&comma; in line with the ECB’s target&period; A stronger euro&comma; which lowers the price of imports&comma; and softer global prices for oil have helped keep inflation moderate&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The stronger euro&comma; up 13&percnt; this year at 1&period;17 dollars&comma; has attracted attention as a potential damper on growth and ECB vice president Luis de Guindos said any rapid moves over 1&period;20 dollars could be &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;much more complicated”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But the ECB typically does not target the exchange rate&comma; and the euro’s rise is considered to be less the result of Europe’s strength and more the result of a weaker dollar weighed down by investor uncertainty about the future path of inflation&comma; growth and government debt in the US&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68cd04c863b1a">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; 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