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Donald Trump has warned US trading partners that they would be “losing their jobs to America” if he wins a second term in the White House, as he promised a “new American industrialism” under his watch.
The comments from Trump at an event in Savannah, Georgia, on Tuesday, mark his attempt to outflank Kamala Harris on manufacturing policy in the economic duel between the two candidates ahead of the November election.
Trump’s version of US industrial policy is centred on a promise to cut taxes for companies that manufacture in America and impose tariffs on those that do not.
“American workers will no longer be worried about losing your jobs to foreign nations. Instead, foreign nations will be worried about losing their jobs to America,” he said.
“Vote for Trump, and you will see a mass exodus of manufacturing from China to Pennsylvania, from Korea to North Carolina, from Germany to right here in Georgia,” he added.
Trump spoke a day after he attacked John Deere, the storied US agricultural machinery manufacturer, for its plan to shift some production to Mexico, warning that as president he would slap massive tariffs on products it exported to the US.
Trump’s push on foreign investment comes as the Republican candidate and his Democratic rival Harris clash on the economy — the biggest issue for voters in this year’s White House race, according to many polls.
Harris is expected on Wednesday to deliver her own campaign speech on the economy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a rust-belt city at the centre of an election maelstrom over a Japanese company’s bid to buy US Steel — a takeover opposed by both candidates and President Joe Biden.
Trump’s push on foreign investment comes as Democrats warn that his plans to gut the clean energy subsidies from Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act would damage a recovery under way in industrial America and amount to a self-inflicted wound as the US competes with China.
The IRA has already triggered a rush of investment to the US over the past two years, which Trump’s opponents say would be at risk if he wins a second term. US trading partners, including important allies in Europe, initially balked at the IRA amid concern that it would give a big edge to the US in manufacturing.
But Jennifer Granholm, the US energy secretary, told the Financial Times in an interview this week that scrapping the IRA would jeopardise a “tsunami of investment” that was unfolding.
“That just seems like we would be not just unilaterally disarming, we would be stabbing ourselves because it would be so foolish,” she said.
Trump told his audience in Georgia that his plans, which include cutting corporate tax to 15 per cent from 21 per cent for companies that produce goods domestically, slashing regulations and boosting energy production, would make the US more attractive to foreign companies. He is also pledging to make federal land available to would-be investors, aides said.
Economists have warned that Trump’s tariff and tax plans could reignite inflation and disrupt supply chains, raising doubts about his pitch to foreign investors.
Trump has threatened to impose up to 20 per cent tariffs on all imports, and even higher levies on goods from China, raising costs for manufacturers that depend on some degree on foreign components.
His comments in western Pennsylvania on Monday also showed his willingness to use tariffs on individual companies.
“I’m just notifying John Deere right now: If you do that [shift production to Mexico], we’re putting a 200 per cent tariff on everything that you want to sell into the United States.”
This week, Trump also reiterated his opposition to the planned takeover of US Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel.
Even though Harris also opposes the deal, Trump told the crowd in Savannah: “Under Kamala Harris. US Steel is now being sold to Japan. I will stop it . . . we’re not going to let that happen.”
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