BOJ Holds Rates, Noting Unease Over Potential Tariff Impacts

The Bank of Japan kept its benchmark rate unchanged and cited worries over the potential impact from US tariff policies, suggesting that it’s not in a rush to hike for now.

The central bank added a reference to trade policies to its list of risks to the outlook, its statement showed Wednesday. With around two weeks to go before details of President Donald Trump’s additional reciprocal tariffs come out, Governor Kazuo Ueda’s board voted to keep the policy rate steady at 0.5% at the end of a two-day gathering, a result that was in line with the expectations of all 52 economists surveyed by Bloomberg.