WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump sat down with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell for an informal dinner in the White House to discuss the economy, the central bank said Monday evening.
In a press release, the Fed said Powell "did not discuss his expectations for monetary policy, except to stress that the path of policy will depend entirely on incoming economic information and what that means for the outlook."
Fed vice-chairman Richard Clarida and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also attended the dinner.
Powell's comments in this setting were consistent with his remarks at his press conference of last week, the central bank said.
The Fed chairman said in the press conference that "some cross-currents" and "conflicting signals" about the generally positive economic outlook warrant a "patient, wait-and-see approach" regarding future policy changes.
Trump last year repeatedly exerted pressure on the Fed to hold off on rate hikes, saying that the central bank risked impeding economic progress with a tightening monetary policy.
After raising interest rates for four times in 2018, the central bank on Wednesday left interest rates unchanged as expected, after concluding its first policy meeting this year.
When asked whether the Fed has caved to the president's demand to stop raising rates, Powell said last week that monetary policy makers are "never going to take political considerations into account."
