Benedict Smith
25 September 2024 12:38am
Donald Trump has pledged to take jobs from Britain, Germany and China if he returns to the White House.
Speaking in Georgia, the former president set out plans for an aggressive trade policy that would impose “very substantial” tariffs on companies that did not relocate jobs to the US.
In a pitch to “every major company and manufacturer on Earth”, Trump also said he would use America’s economic muscle to slash the corporate tax rate for businesses that moved their operations to the country.
“Not only will we stop our businesses leaving for foreign lands but under my leadership we’re going to take other countries’ jobs,” the former president told a crowd in Savannah, Georgia.
“We’re going to bring thousands and thousands of businesses and trillions of dollars in wealth back to the USA.”
“I want German car companies to become American car companies, I want them to build their plants here,” Trump continued. “I want to beat China in electronics production. And we’ll be able to do that easily.”
He said that Britain was “dying” to attract big business from the US and was using its tax incentives to do so.
“One day you’re going to read, ‘Oh gee, so-and-so, they just signed with China, they just signed with Germany, they just signed with Great Britain – it’s dying to have them, they’ll give you free tax,” he said.
Slashing tax
Companies such as the investment giant BlackRock have sent white-collar jobs to Britain, drawn by depressed salaries and tax incentives.
Trump pledged to levy tariffs on companies that refused to move their operations to the US, while slashing the corporate tax rate from 21 per cent to 15 per cent for those that agreed to relocate.
The policy would prompt a “manufacturing boom” and cause General Electric (GE), IBM and “every other manufacturer that left us to be filled with regret and come sprinting back to our shores”, Trump said.
IBM and the three companies formed when GE split up in April are based in the US, although they are reported to have moved jobs to countries such as Mexico in recent years.
Trump cut the tax rate from 35 per cent to 21 per cent during his term in the White House in 2017.
“This is going to blow that away,” he claimed on Tuesday, saying he would bring in “the most competitive tax anywhere on the planet – but only for those who make their product in the USA.”
By contrast, his political rival Kamala Harris proposes raising the corporate tax rate from 21 per cent to 28 per cent.
New manufacturing investment
Trump also announced plans to reward US-based manufacturers by expanding research and development tax credits, writing off 100 per cent of the cost of heavy machinery in the first year, and allowing full expensing for new manufacturing investments.
Republicans have previously expressed wariness about the former president’s tax promises and believe he is promising more than he can deliver, Politico reported last week.
In addition to his pledges on Tuesday, Trump has also said he would eliminate or cut taxes on tips, social security benefits and overtime pay, on top of the $4.6 trillion it will cost to renew the bulk of his 2017 tax cuts.
The Republican presidential candidate claimed he would ramp up production of cars in the US, while repeating his plan to impose a 100 per cent tariff on imported Chinese cars that are manufactured in Mexico.
Trump labelled Ms Harris a “communist” and “tax queen” and claimed that she had only become the Democratic presidential candidate, having replaced Joe Biden in July, because of “political correctness”.
“She’s called the tax queen in other countries because she forces everybody out of our country into their hands,” he said. Her economic plans would lead to a “1929-style depression” and an exodus of businesses, he added.
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