Here’s how Trump says he’ll help US businesses through tariffs and taxes

By Tami Luhby and Katie Lobosco, CNN

(CNN) — Donald Trump portrays himself as a big friend of big business. Among the most notable efforts of his first administration was slashing the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% as part of his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which contained multiple other beneficial measures for companies.

And he’s promising companies he’ll do more of the same if he’s elected in November for a second term. In a speech in Savannah, Georgia, on Tuesday, the former president highlighted his plan to reduce the corporate tax rate to 15% for companies that make their products in the US, which he vowed would unleash a boom in domestic manufacturing and entice foreign companies to shift their operations to America.

“With a vision I’m outlining today, not only will we stop our businesses from leaving for foreign lands, but under my leadership, we’re going to take other countries’ jobs,” Trump said.

“And under the plan, American workers will no longer be worried about losing your jobs to foreign nations. Instead, foreign nations will be worried about losing their jobs to America,” he added.

In addition to a low tax rate, companies that make their products in the US and hire American workers will benefit from lower energy costs, fewer regulations and free access to the biggest market in the world if he becomes president again, Trump said, noting that he wants to turn Savannah’s port into a major export hub.

Trump pledged that companies that don’t produce their goods domestically will have to pay steep tariffs to sell those products in the US, providing hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue, which will be used to benefit American citizens.

Some of his plans stand in stark contrast to his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, who has proposed raising the corporate tax rate to 28% and quadrupling the tax on stock buybacks to 4% to help pay for her plans to assist middle-class and working Americans. She has also voiced support for President Joe Biden’s recent budget blueprint, which contains a variety of tax increases on big companies and wealthy people in an effort to ensure they pay their fair share.

Trump’s promised business tax cuts come alongside his suite of targeted tax relief for individuals, a list that continues to grow. He has vowed to eliminate federal taxes on tips, overtime pay and Social Security benefits, as well as restore the deductibility of state and local taxes, which was limited by his tax cuts package. Plus, he wants to continue all of the individual income and estate tax cuts from the 2017 law, as well as some business tax changes, that are expiring or have lapsed.

All of Trump’s tax cut proposals would need congressional approval, which could be difficult to muster even if Republicans win a healthy majority in both chambers. But he could institute his tariff policies by executive action.

Here’s what Trump is proposing to aid businesses:

Hiking tariffs

Trump has said that if elected again, he would add tariffs of up to 20% on every foreign import coming into the US, as well as another tariff upward of 60% on all Chinese imports. He also said he would impose a “100% tariff” on countries that shift away from using the US dollar.

On Tuesday, Trump floated a 100% or 200% tariff on cars made in Mexico. He said this would stop Chinese companies from building auto plants in Mexico as a way to avoid US tariffs.

“If you don’t make your product here, then you will have to pay a tariff, a very substantial tariff, when you send your product into the United States,” Trump said.

These new tariffs would be added to the duties he implemented on roughly $380 billion of imports – including many Chinese-made goods and steel and aluminum from several countries – when he was in the White House.

Trump used tariffs, in part, to help boost American manufacturing. But even when tariffs help some domestic producers, they hurt others.

For example, Trump’s tariffs made foreign steel more expensive to US consumers – so much so, that some may switch to an American supplier of steel. This is good for the US steel producer and as a result, some American steel companies reopened mills and created new jobs after the tariffs were implemented.

But for US manufacturers that use steel to make their goods, steel is more expensive, and the higher price hurts their bottom line.

Several studies – like one from the Tax Foundation and another from the US-China Business Council – say that overall, Trump’s tariffs hurt the US economy and resulted in a net loss of jobs.

In 2019, Federal Reserve economists found a net decrease in manufacturing employment due to the tariffs. That’s mostly because goods became more expensive to US businesses and consumers, and retaliatory tariffs put on American-made goods made other US manufacturers less competitive when selling abroad.

During the Trump administration, the US Chamber of Commerce often criticized the president’s tariff policies.

“In addition to raising costs for businesses and consumers, tariffs sow uncertainty that stifles economic growth,” John Murphy, who directs the US Chamber’s advocacy relating to international trade and investment policy, wrote in 2021.

Biden has kept most of Trump’s tariffs in place and recently increased the duty rate on some Chinese-made goods.

Reducing the corporate tax rate

Trump has long wanted to reduce the corporate tax rate to below 21%. He unveiled his latest proposal earlier this month at the Economic Club of New York: a 15% rate for companies that make their products in the US, which on Tuesday he called “the centerpiece” of his plan for a manufacturing renaissance.

“Companies are going to be pouring in,” he said in Savannah.

The campaign has not provided any details on the measure, but some experts say it sounds similar to the Section 199 domestic production activities deduction of 9% of income derived from domestic manufacturing. The complicated deduction existed between 2004 and 2017 as an incentive for companies to produce more goods and employ more workers in the US, particularly manufacturers, but was eliminated by the TCJA in favor of a simpler, lower corporate tax rate of 21%.

This targeted tax cut would complement Trump’s push to hike tariffs on imported products, said John Gimigliano, US head of tax legislative services at KPMG.

“You can see it all fitting together in a way because if we’re really trying to become less reliant on foreign goods, then we’re going to have to produce them here,” he said.

Reestablishing the deduction with a 15% effective rate would reduce revenues by $200 billion, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Drawing a contrast with his rival, Trump blasted Harris’ plan to increase the corporate tax rate, calling her “the tax queen.” He also took issue with her support of Biden’s Billionaire Minimum Income Tax proposal, which seeks to ensure that those worth more than $100 million pay a federal income tax rate of at least 25% on their income – including unrealized gains on assets, which are not currently taxed. It will force owners of successful companies to sell their businesses to raise the cash to pay the tax, Trump said.

Extending business provisions in tax cuts law

While most of the TCJA corporate tax changes are permanent, several measures have expired or are set to end soon. Trump has promised to extend the entire law, unlike Harris, who has indicated her support for letting the provisions targeted at the wealthy and big corporations lapse.

Notably, the tax cut law temporarily created a special deduction for the owners of certain pass-through entities who pay business taxes on their individual tax returns. The deduction, which also expires at the end of 2025, allows these taxpayers to exclude up to 20% of business income from their federal income tax. These so-called pass-through businesses include partnerships, such as those formed by lawyers, doctors or investors.

Also, if the business tax changes in the TCJA were renewed, companies would again be able to deduct the cost of their US-based research and experimentation investments immediately, instead of over five years, and immediately deduct 100% of their investment in machinery and equipment. Plus, extending the law would restore higher limits on the deductibility of interest expenses. GOP lawmakers had included these three scheduled tax increases in the TCJA as a way to offset its cost.

CNN’s Kate Sullivan contributed to this report.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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