Treasury Secretary Criticizes Extensive Tariff Proposals

In a Thursday speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen criticized proposals for broad-based tariffs on imported goods, arguing that they would harm the American economy and negatively impact our ability to project power overseas. Yellen avoided mentioning Donald Trump by name, but issued a clear criticism of his economic policy platform as candidate for president:

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. 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. But the issues we face today, from broken supply chains, to climate change and global pandemic preparedness, to China’s industrial overcapacity, also mean we cannot simply draw from an old playbook.

Yellen continued her speech by emphasizing what she views as the three most important pillars of good economic policy: a system of free trade, which allows American consumers to benefit from low prices and for American companies to benefit from access to affordable raw materials and overseas investment; international engagement to solve problems like regional instability, climate change, and pandemics that menace supply chains and economic integration; and confronting national security threats like Russian and Chinese aggression. 

“America’s economic well-being depends on the world’s, and America’s economic leadership is key to global prosperity and security. American isolationism and retrenchment will leave all of us worse off,” Yellen concluded.