President Donald Trump could announce his most sweeping tariffs yet Wednesday, unveiling reciprocal tariffs that Trump argues would level the playing field for the U.S. in global trade and would instantly become the hallmark economic policy of his nascent second term, though economists project they would increase inflation this year.

US tariffs on Australian steel and aluminium would have minimal direct impacts, but weakened Chinese demand for goods like iron ore could hit economic growth.

Inflation accelerated in January, rising 3% on an annual basis, indicating that the Federal Reserve's push to drive inflation down to a 2% annual rate has stalled out, at least temporarily. The Consumer Price Index was forecast to rise 2.

The fight against inflation continued to face headwinds in January, with consumer prices rising more than expected.

Inflation’s recent uptick is a major reason the Federal Reserve has paused its interest rate cuts, after implementing three of them last year.

The latest Consumer Price Index report shows inflation ticked up to 3% in January from a year ago, a slight rise from the previous month.

The consumer price index (CPI) increased by 0.5 percent in January to hit an annual increase of 3.0 percent after advancing by 2.9 percent in December. Economists were expecting the CPI to increase by between 2.