FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Central Bank cut its benchmark interest rate for an eighth time, aiming to support businesses and consumers with more affordable borrowing as U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war threatens to slow already tepid growth.
The bank’s rate-setting council cut interest rates by a quarter of a point Thursday at the bank’s skyscraper headquarters in Frankfurt. Analysts expected a cut, given the gloomier outlook for growth since Trump announced a slew of new tariffs April 2 and subsequently threatened to impose a crushing 50% tariff, or import tax, on European goods.
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President of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde attends a press conference in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
President of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde attends a press conference in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
President of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde attends a press conference in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
The European Central Bank, right, is pictured in Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
The bigger question remains how far the bank will go at subsequent meetings. Bank President Christine Lagarde indicated at a post-decision news conference that much depends on whether trade tensions with the U.S. can be resolved.
“A further escalation in global trade tensions and associated uncertainties could lower euro area growth by dampening exports and dragging down investment and consumption,” Lagarde said. “By contrast, if trade and geopolitical tensions were resolved swiftly, this could lift sentiment and spur activity. A further increase in defense and infrastructure spending, together with productivity enhancing reforms, would also add to growth.”
While the trade war and the uncertainty that goes with it is holding back growth, the ECB said the economy should get additional stimulus from higher government spending on defense and infrastructure. European governments are stepping up plans for defense purchases to counter Russia and its invasion of Ukraine. The spending boosts arrive amid concern that the U.S. is no longer a fully committed ally in support of Ukraine.
Given the level of uncertainty, Lagarde said, the bank was “not committing to a particular rate path” for future policy meetings.
Thursday’s decision took the bank’s benchmark rate to 2%, down from a peak of 4% in 2023-24.
Lagarde also addressed a journalist's question about a report in the Financial Times that she had discussed leaving her post before the end of her term to become head of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “I can very firmly tell you that I have always been, and am, fully determined to deliver on my mission, and I’m determined to complete my term." she said. "So I regret to tell you that you’re not about to see the back of me.” Lagarde’s eight-year term ends October 31, 2027.
The bank raised rates to suppress an outbreak of inflation in 2021-23 that was triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and by the rebound from the pandemic. But as inflation fell, the bank shifted gears toward supporting growth by lowering rates. With inflation now down to 1.9%, below the bank’s target of 2%, analysts say the bank has room to take rates even lower to support growth.
Trump announced a 20% tariff, or import tax, on goods from the European Union. He later threatened to raise the tariff to 50% after expressing dissatisfaction with the progress of trade talks with the EU's executive commission, which handles trade issues for the 27-member union. Trump and the EU’s executive commission have agreed to suspend implementation and any retaliation by the EU until July 14 as negotiators seek to reach agreement.
Trump added more disruption this week by suddenly increasing a 25% tariff on steel imports to 50% for all countries except for the U.K.
The threat of even higher tariffs has raised fears that growth will underperform already modest forecasts. The EU’s executive commission lowered its growth forecast for this year to 0.9% from 1.3% on the optimistic assumption that the 20% tariff rate can be negotiated down to no more than 10%.
President of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde attends a press conference in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
President of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde attends a press conference in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
President of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde attends a press conference in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
The European Central Bank, right, is pictured in Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal agents carrying out immigration arrests in Minnesota's Twin Cities region already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman rammed the door of one home Sunday and pushed their way inside, part of what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest enforcement operation ever.
In a dramatic scene similar to those playing out across Minneapolis, agents captured a man in the home just minutes after pepper spraying protesters outside who had confronted the heavily armed federal agents. Along the residential street, protesters honked car horns, banged on drums and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt the operation.
Video of the clash taken by The Associated Press showed some agents pushing back protesters while a distraught woman later emerged from the house with a document that federal agents presented to arrest the man. Signed by an immigration officer, the document — unlike a warrant signed by a judge — does not authorize forced entry into a private residence. A warrant signed by an immigration officer only authorizes arrest in a public area.
Immigrant advocacy groups have conducted extensive “know-your-rights” campaigns urging people not to open their doors unless agents have a court order signed by a judge.
But within minutes of ramming the door in a neighborhood filled with single-family homes, the handcuffed man was led away.
More than 2,000 immigration arrests have been made in Minnesota since the enforcement operation began at the beginning of December, said Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News on Sunday that the administration would send additional federal agents to Minnesota to protect immigration officers and continue enforcement.
The Twin Cities — the latest target in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign — is bracing for what is next after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by an immigration officer on Wednesday.
“We’re seeing a lot of immigration enforcement across Minneapolis and across the state, federal agents just swarming around our neighborhoods,” said Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city councilmember. “They’ve definitely been out here.”
Chavez, the son of Mexican immigrants who represents an area with a growing immigrant population, said he is closely monitoring information from chat groups about where residents are seeing agents operating.
People holding whistles positioned themselves in freezing temperatures on street corners Sunday in the neighborhood where Good was killed, watching for any signs of federal agents.
More than 20,000 people have taken part in a variety of trainings to become “observers” of enforcement activities in Minnesota since the 2024 election, said Luis Argueta, a spokesperson for Unidos MN, a local human rights organization .
“It’s a role that people choose to take on voluntarily, because they choose to look out for their neighbors,” Argueta said.
The protests have been largely peaceful, but residents remained anxious. On Monday, Minneapolis public schools will start offering remote learning for the next month in response to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out while tensions remain high.
Many schools closed last week after Good’s shooting and the upheaval that followed.
While the enforcement activity continues, two of the state’s leading Democrats said that the investigation into Good's shooting death should not be overseen solely by the federal government.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said in separate interviews Sunday that state authorities should be included in the investigation because the federal government has already made clear what it believes happened.
“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened," Smith said on ABC’s "This Week."
The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.
Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defended the officer on Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing.”
"That law enforcement officer had milliseconds, if not short time to make a decision to save his life and his other fellow agents,” he said.
Lyons also said the administration’s enforcement operations in Minnesota wouldn't be needed “if local jurisdictions worked with us to turn over these criminally illegal aliens once they are already considered a public safety threat by the locals.”
The killing of Good by an ICE officer and the shooting of two people by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, led to dozens of protests in cities across the country over the weekend, including New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Oakland, California.
Contributing were Associated Press journalists Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis; Thomas Strong in Washington; Bill Barrow in Atlanta; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio.
A woman gets into an altercation with a federal immigration officer as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A federal immigration officer deploys pepper spray as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A family member, center, reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Bystanders are treated after being pepper sprayed as federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A family member reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Federal agents look on after detaining a person during a patrol in Minneapolis, Minn., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
Bystanders react after a man was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)
People stand near a memorial at the site where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
A man looks out of a car window after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Border Patrol agents detain a man, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
People shout toward Border Patrol agents making an arrest, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey holds a news conference on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
Protesters react as they visit a makeshift memorial during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
