The Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged Wednesday despite intense pressure from President Trump for a cut — and votes by two of the central bank’s governors against Jerome Powell’s “wait and see” approach.

The central bank’s policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee maintained the benchmark rate between 4.25% and 4.5%, where it has been since December.

It marked the first meeting in three decades where more than one governor on the 12-member board has dissented on an interest-rate vote .

“On the dissents, what you want from everybody, and also from a dissenter, is a clear explanation of what you’re thinking is and what are the arguments you’re making and we had that today,” Chairman Powell said during a press conference immediately following the meeting.

“This was quite a good meeting all around the table where people thought carefully about this.”

In its policy note, the Fed said: “Uncertainty about the economic outlook remains elevated.” That erased a phrase from the previous note that uncertainty had “diminished.”

Central bankers also downgraded the state of economic growth, saying growth has “moderated” in the first half of the year. Last month, it wrote that activity “has continued to expand at a solid pace.”

“The rate-setting committee has set the stage to take action at the next meeting. If economic conditions weaken, the committee will likely cut rates by a quarter point in September,” Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at LPL Financial, said in a note.

The markets were mixed after Powell wouldn’t commit to an expected cut when the Fed next meets in September.

“We have made no decisions about September,” he said during a press conference following the two-day meeting. “We don’t do that in advance. We’ll be taking that information into consideration and all the other information we get as we make our decision.”

Powell emphasized that the tariffs are “still quite early days” and that companies appear to be eating the bulk of the new charges for now, so data could change if these duties are passed along to consumers.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4%, or 171 points, after being in positive territory before Powell spoke. The S&P 500 ticked down 0.1%, while the Nasdaq rallied to inch up 0.2% at the closing bell.

Governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman voted in favor of immediately slashing rates, adding to growing pushback against Powell’s reluctance to slash rates over fears that Trump’s tariffs will ignite inflation over the next few months.

Powell has faced unprecedented heat from Trump, who has publicly called the policymaker “stupid,” “hardheaded” and a “numbskull” as he pushes for interest rates to be slashed as much as three percentage points.

Last Friday, Trump had said he believed Powell was ready to start lowering rates after he joined the central banker in matching hard hats for a tour of the Fed’s controversial $2.5 billion renovation project at its headquarters.

When asked whether he thinks the Trump administration’s scrutiny over the renovations is tied to the push for lower rates, Powell said: “Not for me to say.”

He said it was “an honor” to host Trump at the Fed and “a good visit,” adding that the president said “multiple times that what he really wanted to see was us getting this construction completed as soon as possible.”

Powell declined to comment on how Trump’s public pressure could impact the Fed’s independence. 

However, he said he believes the institution is “very important” and should “continue and be respected” – otherwise there could be a “temptation” for the government to use rates to influence elections.

Fed officials, meanwhile, have split over the past few months on when to cut interest rates – and whether to do so altogether.

While Waller and Bowman have sided with Trump, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly has said she wants to see at least two more months of economic data before slashing rates, teeing up for a cut in September.

Others like the Atlanta Fed’s Raphael Bostic have remained cautious over fears that tariffs could reheat inflation this summer.

Powell in May warned of an increased risk of stagflation, which is higher inflation and a slowdown in economic growth.

Inflation has not been as much of a worry as officials and economists initially feared since the president temporarily lowered many rates during negotiations.

Data released Wednesday by the Commerce Department found that the US economy grew at a better-than-expected 3% – bouncing back from a steep decline in the first quarter.

Private employers also added a notable 104,000 jobs in July, the ADP said Wednesday.

Consumer confidence mostly rebounded as anxiety that tariffs would hit prices eased.