Crypto News: Supply Lines: Yellen’s tariff warning

The debate is heating up in Washington over how widely the US should use tariffs to help the economy.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, speaking two days after former President Donald Trump laid out his case for greater trade protectionism if he wins next month's election, is warning today that sweeping, untargeted tariffs would hurt American households and businesses. (Click here to read the full story.)

"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 prepared remarks to the Council on Foreign Relations.

Trump has called for across-the-board taxes on imports as a way to protect domestic companies, punish those that build factories abroad and incentivize foreign firms to produce in the US.

Yellen, the former Federal Reserve chief whom Trump replaced in 2018 with current Chair Jerome Powell, is arguing that "sweeping, untargeted tariffs would raise prices for American families and make our businesses less competitive."

Video: Trump Talks Tariffs, Immigration and the Federal Reserve

She also cautioned against the unilateral approach to international relations. "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," she said.

Yellen defended the Biden administration's approach to China, which is geared toward defending and ensuring national security without trying to hold back its main geopolitical rival economically.

"Trade and investment with China can bring significant gains to American firms and workers and must be maintained," Yellen said, adding that the two nations "must also have a healthy economic relationship based on a level playing field."

Related Reading:

—Brendan Murray in London

Click here for more of Bloomberg.com's most-read stories about trade, supply chains and shipping.

Build your dreams | After increasing its annual sales in China 15 times over, to 3 million cars in only three years, BYD is now exporting to roughly 95 markets, including 20 new ones this year. The electric vehicle maker is building, has recently opened or has announced plans for assembly plants outside China in 10 countries on three continents. The speed and scope of this expansion have caught the global auto industry off guard and triggered protectionist tariffs in the US and EU, where policymakers fear Chinese players such as BYD will, in the words of Elon Musk, "demolish" their domestic automakers. The company is hoping to transcend geopolitics through the appeal of a plug-in hybrid sedan that can go 1,200 miles without stopping at a pump or a charger.

Japan's exports unexpectedly declined for the first time in 10 months in September, sapping momentum from the country's economic recovery as global demand weakened. Meantime, South Korea's chip exports dropped last quarter.
John Deere is laying off an additional nearly 300 people in Iowa and Illinois as demand for farm equipment slows from the peak production of recent years.
The Biden administration is poised to loan nearly $671 million to Aspen Aerogels to make a key component of electric car batteries in the election battleground state of Georgia.
Swiss watch exports fell sharply in September as shipments to China dropped by half, putting more pressure on the European country's struggling luxury sector.
Europe should use the challenges posed by an increasingly fragmented world order and geopolitical conflicts as an opportunity to strengthen the foundations of its domestic market, according to ECB President Christine Lagarde.
Water scarcity could cause high-income countries' GDP to shrink by 8% on average by midcentury and a drop of up to 15% in poorer countries, according to a new analysis. It also finds that subsidies that encourage overuse are among the most consequential factors driving the crisis.

Bloomberg New Economy: The world faces a wide range of critical challenges, ranging from ongoing military conflict and a worsening climate crisis to the unforeseen consequences of deglobalization and accelerating artificial intelligence. But these challenges are not insurmountable. Join us in Sao Paulo on Oct. 22-23 as leaders in business and government from across the globe come together to discuss the biggest issues of our time and mark the path forward. Click here to register.

North American rail traffic rose 1.7% in the week ended Oct. 12, Association of American Railroads data show. Norfolk Southern and CSX were the only railroads to decline as Hurricane Milton snarled operations in Florida, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, which expects traffic to keep seeing near-term growth.
A US embargo law bars a Cuban rum seller from enforcing its "Havana Club" trademark registration against Bacardi USA Inc., a federal court in Washington said.
Run SPLC after an equity ticker on Bloomberg to show critical data about a company's suppliers, customers and peers.
Use the AHOY function to track global commodities trade flows.
See DSET CHOKE for a dataset to monitor shipping chokepoints.
For freight dashboards, see {BI RAIL}, {BI TRCK} and {BI SHIP} and {BI 3PLS}
Click HERE for automated stories about supply chains.
On the Bloomberg Terminal, type NH FWV for FreightWaves content.
See BNEF for BloombergNEF's analysis of clean energy, advanced transport, digital industry, innovative materials, and commodities.

Don't keep it to yourself. Colleagues and friends can sign up here. We also publish Economics Daily, a briefing on the latest in global economics.

For even more: Follow @economics on Twitter and subscribe to Bloomberg.com for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and gain expert analysis from exclusive subscriber-only newsletters.

How are we doing? We want to hear what you think about this newsletter. Let our trade tsar know.

Like getting this newsletter? Subscribe to Bloomberg.com for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights.

Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can't find anywhere else. Learn more.

Want to sponsor this newsletter? Get in touch here.