NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump told a group of executives and business leaders Thursday that he wants to lead a “national economic renaissance” by slashing regulations to boost energy production, embracing cryptocurrencies and slashing government spending and corporate taxes for companies that produce in the United States.
The Republican presidential candidate, speaking at the Economic Club of New York, said he would immediately issue a national emergency declaration to massively increase the nation’s energy supply and eliminate 10 current regulations for every new regulation the government passes. He said Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk has agreed to lead a commission to conduct a financial audit of the federal government that would save trillions of dollars. “My plan will beat inflation fast, bring prices down fast and kick-start explosive economic growth,” Trump said.
Trump spoke to the same group eight years ago and on Thursday touted his economic accomplishments while in office, including the jobs created under his watch, tax and regulation cuts and his efforts to renegotiate trade deals.
His visit comes a day after he appeared on a Fox News town hall, where he claimed that his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, would drive big business out of the United States if she won the election.
Trump had previously floated the idea of cutting the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15%, but on Thursday he made clear that would only apply to companies that produce in the United States. The corporate tax rate was 35% when he became president in 2017, and he later signed a bill lowering it. Trump has also proposed not taxing tips or Social Security income.
Trump and Harris, the Democratic nominee, want to move interest rates in opposite directions while arguing that each is better than the other for American businesses. It’s one of many ways the two major-party candidates have laid out starkly different views on the economy, a key issue in this year’s election.
According to an AP-NORC poll conducted in August, Trump has a slight edge over Harris on the question of which candidate would be better suited to managing the economy. About 45% of adults said Trump would do a better job, and 38% said Harris.
Harris is calling for raising the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%. Her policy proposals this week aim to promote entrepreneurship, betting that making it easier to start a business will boost middle-class prosperity.
Economists have warned against Trump’s plans to impose tariffs that he says would bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States. Some have said such taxes on imports could worsen inflation, although the president has promised to cut costs. Inflation peaked in 2022 at 9.1% but has since fallen to 2.9% last month.
“Some people will call it economic nationalism. I call it common sense. I call it ‘America First,'” he said Thursday.
President Joe Biden’s administration has retained tariffs on China introduced under the Trump administration and banned exports of advanced computer chips to China.
Harris favors a top tax rate of 28%, while Biden wants to nearly double the current rate to 39.6% for investors earning more than $1 million. Both also want to increase a separate tax rate on investment income.
On Thursday, Trump attacked Harris’ proposals to ban price gouging and accused her of embracing Marxism and communism.
“She wants four more years to implement the radical left’s agenda that represents a fundamental threat to the prosperity of every American family and to America itself,” he said.
On Wednesday in New Hampshire, Harris called for expanding tax deductions for business start-up expenses and set a goal of 25 million applications to start new businesses over the next four years.
