SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Donald Trump is expected to pledge Tuesday not only to stop American companies from offshoring jobs, but also from taking jobs and factories from other countries.
Among the ideas he plans to push is attracting foreign companies to the United States by offering them access to federal lands. He hinted at that plan earlier this month when he proposed cutting the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 15 percent, but only for companies that produce in the United States. His opponent, Vice President Kamala Harriswants to raise it to 28%. The corporate tax rate was 35% when he became president in 2017, and he later signed a bill lowering it.
Trump has pressed Harris on economic issues and proposed using tariffs on imports and other measures to boost American manufacturing, even as economists warn that American consumers would bear the cost of tariffs and other Trump proposals such as organizing the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.
So far, Trump has focused his economic approach on measures to punish companies that move operations abroad. But on Tuesday, he is expected to unveil incentives to encourage foreign companies to leave other countries and move to the United States. The former president wants to personally recruit foreign companies and send members of his administration to do the same.
A senior Trump adviser shared preliminary excerpts from Trump’s speech, which the former president could still edit.
It’s unclear whether foreign companies will be attracted to some of the incentives he says he wants to enact if elected to the White House. The former president also had a mixed record in the White House in attracting foreign investment. For example, Trump promised a $10 billion investment by Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn in Wisconsin, potentially creating 13,000 new jobs, which the the company never delivered.
It’s also unclear to what extent a president can offer these benefits to foreign companies. The Bureau of Land Management imposes restrictions on foreign entities seeking to lease land. Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request Monday night for comment on whether Chinese companies would be excluded, given his longstanding accusations that China hurts American businesses.
The Republican presidential candidate is expected to explore the project in Savannah, Georgia, which has one of the nation’s busiest ports for containerized goods.
It is Trump’s first visit to the key swing state since a feud between the former president and Republican Gov. Brian Kemp ended last month with the popular Georgia governor ultimately endorsing Trump.
Some Republicans have said they fear Georgia has become more politically competitive in the two months since Vice President Kamala Harris launched her presidential campaign after President Joe Biden abandoned his reelection effort. Harris gave a speech in Atlanta last Friday, calling Trump a threat to women’s freedoms and warning voters that he would continue to limit access to abortion if elected president.
Trump’s running mate JD Vance will hold a rally later this week in Georgia and also visit Macon.
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Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in Indiana, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.
