US Treasury chief warns Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs are ‘deeply misguided’
Targeting imports from China and other nations will harm America by driving up inflation and setting back global security, Janet Yellen says
“Calls for walling America off with high tariffs on friends and competitors alike or by treating even our closest allies as transactional partners are deeply misguided,” Yellen said in a speech to the Council of Foreign Relations in New York.
“Sweeping, untargeted tariffs would raise prices for American families and make our businesses less competitive. And we cannot even hope to advance our economic and security interests – such as opposing Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine – if we go it alone.”
With early voting already in progress in many US states and less than three weeks to go before the election, Trump has stepped up his pledge to use tariffs to lower trade deficits, a central component of his diplomatic and economic policies.