Janet Yellen, the former US Treasury secretary, has weighed in on Mr. Trump's tariff plans, saying the rationale for his policies was "unclear and totally unreasonable". In an interview with Bloomberg, Ms. Yellen said, "The removal of tariffs and the reduction of tariffs are positive, but we are in a world of great uncertainty." Even with the uncertainty facing investors, governments and consumers, the US economy remains strong and she sees no need for the Fed to intervene at this time. "If there are real financial stability issues, I believe the Fed would consider using its liquidity facilities, as it did in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic," Ms Yellen said. "But we are not there yet." Of the surge in Treasury yields, Ms Yellen said: "I don't think we are seeing a dysfunction of a complete drying up of market liquidity, but the pattern of a loss of confidence in US economic policy and the safety of underlying financial assets is very worrying indeed."