By Andrea Shalal

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated on Wednesday that President-elect Donald Trump’s proposal to establish a new government agency for collecting tariffs would duplicate existing efforts and likely not result in savings.

While appearing on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Yellen dismissed Trump’s plan for an “External Revenue Service,” which he announced on his social media platform, Truth Social.

“If they’re looking to save money for American taxpayers, setting up a duplicative agency doesn’t seem like a good first step,” she remarked.

Trump proposed the new agency to be operational on January 20, the day he assumes office, intending it to “collect tariffs, duties, and all revenue” from foreign sources. However, he did not clarify whether this new agency would replace existing collections by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection or the Internal Revenue Service.

Concerns remained whether this could create additional government bureaucracy, contradicting the efforts of Trump’s informal Department of Government Efficiency, which aims to find trillions in budget savings.

Yellen criticized Trump’s promised tariffs, warning they would be a “tax increase for the American consumer.” Trump’s proposals include a 10% tariff on global imports, a 25% duty on Canadian and Mexican imports (pending action on drugs and migration), and a 60% tariff on Chinese goods.

According to trade experts, these duties could disrupt trade flows, increase costs, and provoke retaliation against U.S. exports. Yellen pointed out that U.S. consumers would face higher prices for imported goods, and U.S. companies would become less competitive internationally, failing to alleviate the financial concerns of Americans. “What they’re going to see is the cost of making goods and services is going to go up. They’re going to be less competitive in the global economy,” Yellen stated. “So this doesn’t seem like a way to address the things that Americans have said are bothering them.”