BoC officials considered whether interest rate already low enough to weather tariffs

Newly released documents show some members of the Bank of Canada were wondering last month whether the central bank's benchmark interest rate is already low enough to support the Canadian economy through U.S. tariffs.

The Bank of Canada on Wednesday released the summary of deliberations from the meetings leading up to its decision on July 30 to hold the policy rate steady at 2.75 per cent.

Those minutes show the central bank's governing council was fixed on how U.S. tariffs and the global trade "rewiring" were affecting inflation and the wider Canadian economy.

The central bank's decision arrived just a couple days before U.S. President Donald Trump ratcheted base tariffs on Canada up to 35 per cent, while maintaining an exemption for goods compliant with CUSMA.

Despite the ongoing unc