Close call: Supporters cheer at a Trump campaign rally in Atlanta, Georgia. With early voting having started in Georgia, both Trump and Harris are campaigning in the Atlanta region this week amid polls that show a tight race. — AFP
NEW YORK: Former US president Donald Trump says his policies will inspire growth despite adding to the debt as he sought to assuage business leaders who worry his economic plans will fuel inflation.
“We’re all about growth,” Trump told Bloomberg News editor-in-chief John Micklethwait in an interview at the Economic Club of Chicago. “We’re going to bring companies back to our country.”
Trump defended his proposals to dramatically increase tariffs on foreign goods, saying the proposals were for the “protection of the companies that we have here and the new companies that will move in”.
The Republican presidential nominee disputed the notion his tariffs would impact Americans whose jobs depend on trade, saying the losses would be offset by new domestic manufacturing jobs.
“I think that it should have a massive effect, positive effect,” Trump said, arguing that new trade levies would pressure companies to reshore manufacturing in the United States.
“The higher the tariff, the more likely it is that the company will come into the United States, and build a factory in the United States so it doesn’t have to pay the tariff.”
The Republican presidential nominee’s comments came exactly three weeks before Election Day in what polls forecast to be a razor-thin contest with Democratic Vice-President Kamala Harris.
Surveys show the US economy is the paramount issue for voters.
The former president has vowed to carry out an aggressive campaign of deregulation, renew expiring tax cuts, lower the corporate tax rate to 15% from 21%, and offer fresh tax reductions and benefits to bolster domestic manufacturing.
Trump’s tax proposals, as well as duelling tax cuts and benefits pitched by Harris, though, come with stark price tags – in the trillions – and threaten to worsen a US federal deficit that’s already historically large.
Some investors are betting Trump’s policies will leave the US saddled with more debt and higher inflation and interest rates.
America’s annual deficit is already close to US$2 trillion.
Trump’s economic plan is also heavy on tariffs, which he aims to impose on both US allies and adversaries, including a 60% levy on imports from China and 10% duties on the rest of the world.
Trump has also insisted new tariffs will help fund his tax cuts, but economists said they are unlikely to create the revenue he needs.
The Peterson Institute for International Economics estimates the tariffs could raise over US$200bil a year. The US took in an estimated US$4.9 trillion in revenue in the financial year 2024.
The former president’s tariff agenda threatens to also reduce or redirect trade flows, further impacting revenue.
Many economists have warned tariffs would hurt US households with what is effectively a tax increase, likely sending inflation higher and raising pressure on the US Federal Reserve over interest rates.
Trump also reiterated his pledge to block the sale of US Steel Corp to Nippon Steel Corp, if the US$14.1bil transaction was concluded by the time he entered office.
“I think it sets a horrible tone,” he said of the possible sale, adding that steel was a critical national security interest.
“There are certain companies you have to have,” Trump said.
Both Biden and Harris have said they oppose the sale of US Steel to Nippon Steel, an election flashpoint, particularly in swing-state Pennsylvania, where both the American company and the United Steelworkers union, which also opposes the deal, are based.
Trump and Harris in recent weeks have been ramping up their messaging on the economy, in particular in the seven battleground states likely to determine November’s election outcome.
Harris’ entry into the race in July saw her erase much of the lead Trump held when Biden was atop the Democratic ticket, thanks to a surge in party enthusiasm for a new standard-bearer.
But despite a fundraising advantage for Harris that has allowed her to flood the airwaves with advertising and her strong debate performance against Trump, polls show the race tightening in the final stretch.
In recent days, the Trump team has expressed cautious optimism about the former president’s chances to re-capture the White House, according to interviews with Trump allies and advisers, as the operation seeks to focus its message on the economy along with immigration – another issue important to voters. — Bloomberg
