The Fed uses interest rates as the benchmark tool to maintain both sides of its mandate. But there is tension between the two. Higher interest rates lower inflation but increase job losses, while lower interest rates decrease unemployment but increase inflation.

Federal Reserve governors Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller favored an interest-rate cut this week because they have grown more concerned about the labor market, and thought their colleagues were being too cautious about inflation.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday morning made his latest call for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates following July’s inflation report. But the president didn’t say by how much.