Outside of a U.S. President bending norms, the Fed also faces challenges in achieving its economic objectives. Inflation remains above its 2% target: Its preferred measure is at 2.4%, though core prices — considered a better gauge of where inflation is headed — rose 2.8% in November from a year ago.

The US Federal Reserve is on a collision course with Donald Trump, economists say, with the central bank set to keep interest rates on hold despite the president’s calls to reduce borrowing costs by “a lot”.

The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged Wednesday as it began a new wait-and-see policy stance amid a cloudy economic outlook and uncertainty over whether some of President Donald Trump’s policies could stymie the fight against inflation.