WASHINGTON — Consumer spending slowed in April while inflation was up, but still far below the target set by the Federal Reserve.

The Commerce Department said Friday that spending increased 0.3 percent in April following a 1.1 percent surge in March that had been the largest increase in nearly a decade. Personal income growth, which was lagging recently, jumped 0.5 percent in April.

Inflation, as measured by a gauge tied to consumer spending, increased 1.5 percent in April compared with a year ago, up slightly from a 1.4 percent 12-month change in April.

The Fed tries to manage interest rate policy to achieve annual price gains of 2 percent. However, this year, inflation fell farther from this goal.

President Donald Trump has argued that the slowdown in inflation shows that the Fed is keeping monetary policy too tight and should start cutting interest rates.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and other Fed officials have attributed the slowdown in inflation to temporary factors which should reverse in coming months and have argued that the Fed’s wait-and-see approach on further changes in interest rates is appropriate given how low unemployment is currently.