U.S. consumer prices rebounded moderately in April as declining food costs partially offset rising rents, leading to the smallest annual increase in four years, but the inflation outlook remains unclear against the backdrop of tariffs.

US inflation fell to 2.3 per cent in April, the month Donald Trump imposed his global tariffs, as the US president maintains pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates. Tuesday’s annual consumer price index figure from the Bureau of Labor Statistics was below the expectations of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg that inflation would remain at March’s 2.