Former President Donald Trump speaks to the audience during a campaign rally at the Johnny Mercer Theater in Savannah, Ga., on Tuesday.
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SAVANNAH, Ga – Former President Donald Trump said the economic policies he will implement in his second term will create an environment to “steal” manufacturing jobs that have moved overseas through tax cuts and tariffs.
In a whirlwind speech in front of about 2,500 packed supporters at the Johnny Mercer Theater in Savannah on Tuesday, Trump shared his ideas for a “manufacturing renaissance” that would bring millions of jobs back to the US from abroad.
“With the vision that I presented today, not only will we stop our business going to foreign countries, but under my leadership, we will take jobs in other countries,” he said. “Have you ever heard that expression before? Have you ever heard that we’re going to take another country’s jobs? It’s never been said before. We’re going to bring thousands and thousands of businesses and trillions of dollars in wealth back to the good US.
Trump called for lowering the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15% for “people who make products in the US,” continued to push “substantial tariffs” on imported goods and proposed special manufacturing zones on federal land “with ultra-low taxes. and regulations for American producers.”
“We’re going to use our resources to our advantage,” Trump said, also citing fewer environmental regulations on manufacturing. “And it’s going to be clean and the environment is perfect so that America – and America can make everything that we need, the resources that are here, the soil of America. gas. We have everything – the only thing that we don’t have is smart people who lead the country us.
Trump did not provide specifics on many of the proposals. Some economists — and fellow Republicans — have warned that Trump’s key policies, such as the expanded tariffs, could hurt American consumers through retaliatory tariffs on exports that could make goods more expensive for Americans.
“I’m not a fan of tariffs, they’re raising prices for the American consumer,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters Tuesday. “I’m more of a free trade Republican considering how many jobs are created by the exports that we do. So, I’m not a fan of tariffs.”
The main thrust of Trump’s speech was tax and manufacturing policy, but like most of his speeches, it was through the typical campaign stump speech theme.
He attacked Vice President Harris as a “tax queen” whose proposal to tax the unrealized investment gains of ultra-wealthy Americans would lead to a financial depression, but also said she has “bigger cognitive problems” than President Biden.
He repeated his promise to carry out mass deportations of migrants, explained Russia’s military history (noting that “they beat Hitler, they beat Napoleon, that’s what they did”) when discussing the war in Ukraine and recounted two assassination attempts against him this summer. , among other digressions from economic topics.
Notably, Trump did not attack Georgia’s Republican governor Brian Kemp, thanking him for being “fantastic” after dismissing Kemp at an Atlanta rally in early August that highlighted the rift between Trump and popular Republicans in the state who did not follow his demands. cancel the 2020 election.
Instead, he continued to criticize parts of the electric vehicle industry and the Biden administration over emissions that some Republicans called a “mandate.” Georgia has quickly become the country’s EV manufacturing capital, including the massive Hyundai compound about 25 miles outside of Savannah, the largest economic development project in the country that has nearly $8 billion in investment.
Trump’s latest visit to Georgia comes as polls show the former president’s favorite path to victory through Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Trump held a rally in Pennsylvania Monday night and traveled to North Carolina on Wednesday.
