WASHINGTON — Most Federal Reserve officials said last month that the threat of higher inflation was a greater concern than the potential for job losses, leading the central bank to keep its key interest rate unchanged.

According to the minutes of the July 29-30 meeting, released Wednesday, members of the Fed's rate-setting committee "assessed that the effects of higher tariffs had become more apparent in the prices of some goods but that their overall effects on economic activity and inflation remained to be seen."

The minutes underscored the reluctance among the majority of the Fed's 19 policymakers to reduce the central bank's short term interest rate until they get a clearer sense of the effects President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs will have on inflation. So far, inflation crept

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