Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is set to say in a speech Thursday that former President Donald Trump’s plan to unilaterally impose high tariffs on goods coming into the United States is “deeply misguided.”

Sweeping, untargeted tariffs would increase prices for American families and make U.S. businesses less competitive, she said in prepared remarks about the Biden-Harris administration’s international economy policy released ahead of her address to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

What You Need To Know

  • Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said former President Donald Trump’s plan to unilaterally impose high tariffs on goods coming into the United States is “deeply misguided”

  • Sweeping, untargeted tariffs would increase prices for American families and make U.S. businesses less competitive, she said in prepared remarks about the Biden-Harris administration’s international economy policy released ahead of her Thursday afternoon speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York

  • The Republican presidential candidate has proposed a 60% tariff on goods imported from China and a 20% tariff on everything else coming into the U.S. from foreign countries, whether they are friends of the United States or competitors

  • Yellen said the U.S. needs to engage with China to address an overproduction of goods that undercuts American jobs and businesses

The Republican presidential candidate has proposed a 60% tariff on goods imported from China and a 20% tariff on everything else coming into the U.S. from foreign countries, whether they are friends of the United States or competitors.

“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,” Yellen is set to say. “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 praised the Biden-Harris administration’s investments in U.S. manufacturing of semiconductors and electric vehicle batteries, as well as its multilateral approach to strengthening the global economy. She repeated the many calls she made earlier this year for addressing China's unfair trade practices.

“Trade and investment with China can bring significant gains to American firms and workers and must be maintained,” Yellen will say, per her remarks. “But we must also have a healthy economic relationship based on a level playing field. China’s barriers to market access and unfair trade practices currently cause challenges for American firms and workers and for other foreign businesses looking to operate in China.”

In April, Yellen traveled to China to meet with government and business leaders about state-subsidized electric vehicles, solar panels and batteries being overproduced and undercutting American jobs and businesses. She said the country’s actions were shifting global prices with artificially cheap Chinese products.

“No matter how much we invest to strength our manufacturing at home, we cannot support American businesses and families without also engaging to address these challenges.”