NEW YORK CITY — Former President Donald Trump delivered a major economic speech in New York City on Thursday, announcing plans to cut the corporate tax rate to 15% and create a “Government Efficiency Commission” led by Elon Musk, while vowing to “make America a richer and stronger country” if elected president in November.
President Trump made the announcement during a speech at the Economic Club of New York.
While touting the strength of the U.S. economy under his first administration, the former president also slammed his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, for her “Kamalanomics,” blaming her for rising inflation and the negative economic impact of the Biden-Harris administration's policies.
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Trump said Harris and her “far-left policies” posed a “fundamental threat to the prosperity of every American family and America itself.”
Former First Lady Melania Trump joins Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump onstage after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump formally accepted the presidential nomination during the fourth day of the Republican National Convention at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 18, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)
“I'm here today to explain my plan to pull our country out of this nightmare and give back to our people the American Dream, bigger, better and stronger than ever before,” Trump said.
During his administration, Trump said he “fought for the American worker just as much as I fought for my own family.”
“In every decision I've made, I've protected our economy just as I would protect my own company. I've asked myself: Do I create jobs at home or do I send jobs overseas? Does that make America richer and stronger, or does it make us weaker and poorer?” Trump said. “I've always put America first. And when our country was hit by the China virus, we saved our economy. We saved tens of millions of jobs.”
“We took an economic miracle and Kamala and Joe turned it into an economic disaster. They brought our border, and the entire world, to a catastrophic collapse. From day one, Kamala launched a war on American energy and engineered a border invasion that would devastate our country as an immigration hotbed for illegal immigrants from countries all over the world,” Trump said, adding that Biden and Harris had “created, by far, the worst vice presidential runoff in the history of our country.”
“This election will decide whether we re-elect Kamala Harris and give us another four years of crime, economic ruin and international humiliation, or whether we change course and build the greatest economy in the history of the world again, as we did under Trump,” Trump said.
Harris proposes reversing Trump-era tax cuts and dramatically raising corporate taxes
Trump warned that Harris “fundamentally rejects freedom and supports Marxism, communism and fascism.”
“She promises communist-style price controls, wealth confiscation, energy extermination and reparations; the biggest tax increases in history; and mass amnesty and citizenship for tens of millions of immigrants that will consume trillions of dollars in federal benefits and destroy Social Security and Medicare,” he said.
“I promise you low taxes, low regulation, low energy costs, low interest rates, secure borders, extremely low crime rates, and a surge in incomes for Americans of every race, religion, color and creed,” Trump said. “My plan will rapidly overcome inflation, rapidly lower prices and reignite explosive economic growth.”
Trump said Harris “will take even more money out of American people's wallets,” but that her plan “will leave everyday families with thousands of dollars more.”
US Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, talks about her policy platform. (Grant Baldwin/Getty Images)
First, Trump said, “I will end Kamala Harris' anti-energy movement and implement policies that lead to energy abundance, energy independence and even energy dominance.”
President Trump said his plan would “cut energy prices in half or more within my first 12 months in office.”
“This will be an economic recovery like no other our country has ever seen,” he said. “Energy was what caused the problems in the beginning. Energy is what will get us back on our feet.”
If elected, Trump said he would “immediately declare a national emergency to dramatically increase the nation's energy supply.”
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“AI absolutely needs power,” President Trump said.
“These sweeping authorities will make us a leader in AI and every other technology out there,” Trump said. “We'll cut through all the bureaucratic hurdles and quickly approve the construction of new drilling, new pipelines, new refineries, new power plants, new electric facilities and nuclear reactors of any kind.”
“Prices will come down quickly given the huge supply we can create fairly quickly,” he added.
Trump also said he plans to revoke all unused funds from the Biden-Harris “misnamed” “Beat Inflation Act.”
The former president also pledged to “end a terrible waste” by repealing the electric vehicle mandate, which he said would “save taxpayers an estimated $1 trillion.”
“I am launching a historic campaign to free our economy from crippling regulations. In my first term, I promised to cut 10 old regulations for every new one, and we have far surpassed that,” he said.
Trump also stressed that he plans to make the US the “cryptocurrency and Bitcoin capital of the world.”
Meanwhile, Trump said he was setting up a Government Efficiency Commission “at the suggestion of Elon Musk,” and that Musk had his “full support.”
The Government Efficiency Commission will be tasked with conducting a full financial and performance audit of the entire Federal Government and recommending fundamental reforms.
Trump said Musk had “agreed” to lead the committee.
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President Trump also announced that he would reduce the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15% “only for companies that manufacture products in the United States.”
Harris has proposed raising the corporate tax rate to 28%, a measure her campaign describes as “a fiscally responsible way to put money back in working people's pockets and ensure billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share.”
Trump said he was creating the Government Efficiency Commission “at the suggestion of Elon Musk,” and that Musk had his “full support.” (Getty Images)
Trump also said he plans to make the Trump tax cuts permanent.
“This is a massive tax cut,” Trump said.
“I'm not going to tax tips. Four weeks after I said that, they copied it,” Trump said, accusing Harris of supposedly stealing his campaign's plan. “She stood up and said I'm not going to tax tips. I said she actually copied a lot of my plan.”
Trump also said his plan would not tax Social Security benefits.
“We're not going to tax their benefits. We have so many ways to make a ton of money. It's really amazing. We don't have to take it away from people who are on Social Security,” he said. “We're not going to do that.”
Trump said his message was “simple.”
“Make your products in America, and only in America,” Trump said. “We will not be taken advantage of anymore.”
Trump also said he would “address the national debt” and “work to reduce it.”
Meanwhile, Trump said he “got to know Washington really well” during his time in the administration.
“I know there are smart people and stupid people. I know there are people who will make us great and people who will only lead us in a bad direction. I've gotten to know a lot of people, probably more than anyone at that level. We have great talent and we're going to use that talent,” Trump said. “They've done a great job on trade.”
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But Trump said he would “do something that we didn't do the first time around.”
Trump vowed that if elected, “inflation will be ended, energy will be liberated, our economy will be freed, our sovereignty will be restored and our people will prosper.”
“Growth will come back strong and America's future will be brighter than ever,” Trump said.
