Bank of Canada gov. Tiff Macklem spoke Wednesday after the central bank decided to hold interest rates steady as U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada intensifies. The central bank held its benchmark rate at 2.75 per cent on Wednesday, ending a streak of seven consecutive rate cuts. "The Canadian economy started the year in good shape... A lot has happened in the five weeks since our March policy decision, but really the situation is no clearer," Macklem said. "Tariffs have been announced, they've been imposed, they've been retracted, they've been threatened again... so at this meeting we've decided to leave our policy decision unchanged."