“I promise low taxes, low regulations, low energy costs, low interest rates, secure borders, low, low, low crime,” Trump said Thursday at the Economic Club of New York, seeking to draw a contrast with his Democratic rival Kamala Harris.
The centerpiece of his speech was a proposal to cut the corporate tax rate to 15% for companies that make their products in the United States. That move would be a big reduction from the current rate of 21%, a key political victory for Trump’s own 2017 tax law.
“We want to make our products in the United States and we can do that in most cases,” Trump said. “If you outsource, offshore or replace American workers, you are not entitled to any of these benefits.”
Trump spoke to about 650 people at the event at the Economic Club of New York. The group counts among its members top corporate executives, business leaders and economists. Hedge fund billionaire John Paulson, Cantor Fitzgerald LP chief executive Howard Lutnick and Scott Bessent of Key Square Group LP — all Trump supporters — were among those in attendance.
A 15% corporate tax rate would be a huge win for big American corporations, but it would also contribute to increasing deficits because it would mean that big companies would end up paying much lower rates than smaller private companies, where rates can be as high as 37%.
Trump’s proposal also directly opposes Harris’s vision on corporate taxes, which has proposed raising the corporate rate to 28%.
An attempt to cut the corporate rate also threatens to spark a major fight in Washington as Congress negotiates whether to extend parts of Trump’s tax law that is set to expire in 2025.
Government efficiency
Trump also promised to create a task force to review federal spending, an idea recommended by Musk, the chief executive of Tesla Inc. and SpaceX. He said the commission would be “charged with conducting a full financial and performance audit of the entire federal government and making recommendations for sweeping reforms.”
“Elon, because he’s not very busy, agreed to lead that task force,” Trump said of the appointment of Musk, the world’s richest person.
Musk has called for the creation of a task force to ensure taxpayer money is spent effectively and has applied for that position. The former president has praised Musk as “the best cutter.”
On Thursday, Trump also pledged to eliminate 10 regulations for every new regulation if elected, building on a first-term promise to eliminate two regulations for every new rule.
Both Trump and Harris are stepping up their economic messages to court voters in key swing states as well as business executives in an election where the economy is a dominant issue.
Polls show voters believe the U.S. economy under Joe Biden and Harris is improving but still headed in the wrong direction, perceptions fueled by concerns about high prices that have hit American households.
A Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll conducted Aug. 23-27 in seven key states showed likely voters trusted Trump on the economy 50% to 44% more than Harris, and more than half thought they were better off economically under Trump than under Biden and Harris.
Although Trump has promised to introduce lower interest rates, the president has no direct control over setting rates. That task is assigned by Congress to the Federal Reserve, which lowers or raises its benchmark federal funds rate to influence borrowing costs across the economy, from mortgages to government bonds to auto loans.
The U.S. central bank has kept rates at their highest level in more than two decades since July 2023 in a bid to tame the highest inflation since the early 1980s. Officials are expected to begin cutting rates later this month as price pressures continue to ease and the labor market cools.
Wealth fund
Trump also defended his threats to impose tariffs on other countries if he returns to power, calling them “pro-American trade policy that uses tariffs to stimulate production here.” And he proposed channeling the money from tariffs into a sovereign wealth fund, which could invest in manufacturing, defense and medical research centers.
“We will create America’s own sovereign wealth fund to invest in great domestic efforts to benefit all American people,” Trump said.
He wondered why the United States had not already adopted the idea and suggested that it could be renamed, saying “we can give it a different name.”
He said he would discuss the idea with Paulson and suggested a role for executives attending his speech, saying many in the room would be “helping advise and recommend investments.”
Sovereign wealth funds have traditionally been used by countries with large commodity exports and budget surpluses, such as Saudi Arabia and Norway. The United States, by contrast, has run budget deficits for the past two decades and has financed government spending by issuing debt.
The former president has floated the idea of using tariff increases to fund some income tax cuts. He has promised to enact a blanket 10% tariff on all imports and 60% duties on Chinese goods if he wins. Many economists say Trump’s proposed tariffs would reignite inflation.
Trump also said he would declare a national energy emergency to boost domestic production and quickly approve more oil and gas development, moves he said would ease high prices. Trump described the policy as necessary for emerging industries like artificial intelligence and to keep the U.S. competitive with China.
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