Yellen to warn sweeping tariffs would ignite inflation, NYT reports

(Reuters) - The economic policies being proposed by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump would fuel inflation and harm businesses, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen plans to warn in a speech, according to a report in the New York Times on Thursday.

Yellen's critique is set to be delivered in remarks to the Council on Foreign Relations and although she is not expected to mention Trump by name she will argue that the broad tariffs the former U.S. President and some Republicans in Congress support would damage the U.S. economy, the New York Times said, citing Yellen's speech obtained by the newspaper.

"Sweeping, untargeted tariffs would raise prices for American families and make our businesses less competitive," Yellen plans to say.

Trump has made tariffs and tax cuts the key elements of his economic pitch to voters, the majority of whom view the economy as the biggest campaign issue of the 2024 presidential election.

Trump defended his trade policies and other fiscal proposals in an interview on Tuesday with Bloomberg News editor-in-chief John Micklethwait.

He maintained that his trade policies - which call for pricey tariffs on goods not only from rivals such as China but allies such as the European Union - would revitalize American manufacturing and yield enough revenue to ease concerns about ballooning the deficit.

(Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Mark Potter)