The Bank of Canada considered leaving its key policy rate at 3% ahead of a scheduled announcement before concluding it needed to cut for the seventh consecutive time, Governor Tiff Macklem said in an interview on Wednesday.

Prices will rise, the economy will suffer and the Bank of Canada can't lower interest rates enough to shield Canadians from the worst impacts of a prolonged trade war with the United States.

The Bank of Canada cut interest rates by 25 basis points to 2.75 per cent — the seventh consecutive reduction — as it finds itself grappling with uncertainty created by United States President Donald Trump’s tariff onslaught.