NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump suggested to business leaders Thursday that his plans to increase tariffs on foreign imports would solve seemingly unrelated challenges such as the rising cost of childcare in the U.S. — drawing connections many economists find unrealistic.
The GOP presidential nominee promised to lead what he called a “national economic renaissance” by increasing tariffs, slashing regulations to boost energy production and drastically cutting government spending as well as corporate taxes for companies that produce in the U.S.
Asked at his appearance before the Economic Club of New York about his plans to drive down childcare costs to help more women join the workforce, he said: “Childcare is childcare, it’s something you have to have in this country. You have to have it.” Then he said his plans to tax imports from foreign nations at higher levels would “take care” of such problems.
“We’re going to be taking in trillions of dollars, and as much as childcare is talked about as being expensive, it’s — relatively speaking — not very expensive, compared to the kind of numbers we’ll be taking in,” he said.
Trump has embraced tariffs as he appeals to working-class voters who oppose free-trade deals and the outsourcing of factories and jobs. But in his speech Thursday and his economic plans as a whole, Trump made what a broader — to some, implausible — promise on tariffs: that they can raise trillions of dollars to fund his agenda without those costs being passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices.
His campaign attacks election opponent Kamala Harris’ proposals to increase corporate tax rates by saying they would ultimately be borne by workers in the form of fewer jobs and lower incomes. Yet taxes on foreign imports would have a similar effect with businesses and consumers having to absorb those costs in the form of higher prices.
The United States had $3.8 trillion worth of imports last year, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Trump in the past has talked about universal tariffs of at least 10%, if not higher, though he has not spelled out details about how these taxes would be implemented.
During his speech to the Economic Club of New York, Trump also said he would immediately issue “a national emergency declaration” to achieve a massive increase in the domestic energy supply and eliminate 10 current regulations for every new regulation the government adopts. He said Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk has agreed to head a commission to perform a financial audit of the federal government that would save trillions of dollars.
“My plan will rapidly defeat inflation, quickly bring down prices and reignite explosive economic growth,” Trump claimed.
In June, the right leaning Tax Foundation estimated that Trump’s proposed tariffs would amount to a $524 billion yearly tax hike that would shrink the economy and cost the equivalent of 684,000 jobs. After Trump floated tariffs as high as 20% in August, the Harris campaign seized on an analysis suggesting that figure would raise a typical family’s expenses by almost $4,000 annually.
The money raised by tariffs would not be enough to offset the cost of his various income tax cuts, including a plan to whittle the corporate rate to 15% from 21%. The Penn Wharton Budget Model put the price tag on that at $5.8 trillion over 10 years.
Economists have warned about Trump’s plans to impose tariffs that he says would return manufacturing jobs to the U.S. Some have said such taxes on imports could worsen inflation, though he is vowing to cut down costs. Inflation peaked in 2022 at 9.1% but has since eased to 2.9% as of last month.
“Some might say it’s economic nationalism. I call it common sense. I call it America First,” he said on Thursday.
President Joe Biden’s administration preserved the tariffs on China introduced under the Trump administration and banned exports of advanced computer chips to China.
Trump spoke to the same group eight years ago, and on Thursday he touted his economic accomplishments while in office, including jobs created on his watch, cuts on taxes and regulations and his efforts to renegotiate trade deals.
Trump has previously floated the idea of chopping the corporate tax rate to 15%, but on Thursday clarified that would be solely for companies that produce in the U.S. The corporate rate had been 35% when he became president in 2017, and he later signed a bill lowering it.
Trump and Harris, the Democratic nominee, want to take the rate in opposite directions while arguing that each is better than the other for American business.
Trump vowed to end what he called Harris’ “anti-energy crusade,” promising that energy prices will be cut in half if he is elected, although energy prices are often driven by international fluctuations. He said an emergency declaration would help with rapid approvals for new drilling projects, pipelines, refineries, power plants and reactors, where local opposition is generally fierce.
Trump had a slight advantage over Harris on which candidate would better handle the economy, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in August. Some 45% of adults said Trump would do a better job, and 38% said Harris.
Harris calls for raising the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%. Her policy proposals this week have been geared toward promoting more entrepreneurship, a bet that making it easier to start new companies will increase middle class prosperity.
On Thursday, Trump attacked Harris’ proposals on banning price gouging and accused her of embracing Marxism and communism.
“She wants four more years to enforce the radical left agenda that poses a fundamental threat to the prosperity of every American family and America itself,” he said.
Trump also said he will ask Congress to pass legislation that would ban the spending of taxpayer money on people who have entered the country illegally. He specifically said he will bar them from obtaining mortgages in California, targeting a bill passed there last week.
Throughout his campaign, Trump has criticized the record high arrivals of immigrants who enter illegally and blamed them for the country’s problems, highlighting the strain on some government services.
Harris arrived Thursday in downtown Pittsburgh to devote the next several days to preparing for the Sept. 10 presidential debate. She intentionally picked a key part of the battleground state of Pennsylvania to hone her ideas ahead of the showdown with Trump.
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Gomez Licon reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Boak reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux in Washington contributed to this report.