SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Donald Trump’s new idea to lure foreign companies to the U.S. is to offer them access to federal land.
In a visit to Georgia on Tuesday, the former president and GOP presidential nominee is set to unveil what is billed as “a pitch to foreign companies” to revive manufacturing. He teased the plan earlier this month when he proposed a cut to the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15%, but only for companies that produce in the U.S. His opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, wants to raise it to 28%. The corporate rate had been 35% when he became president in 2017, and he later signed a bill lowering it.
Trump has pressed Harris on the economy and proposed using tariffs on imports and other measures to boost American industry, even as economists warn U.S. consumers would bear the costs of tariffs and other Trump proposals like staging the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.
Up until now, Trump has mostly framed his economic approach with measures to punish companies that take their businesses offshore. But on Tuesday, he is set to reveal incentives for foreign firms to leave other countries and migrate to the U.S. The former president wants to personally recruit foreign companies and to send members of administration to do the same.
It is unclear whether foreign companies would be attracted by some of these incentives he says he will adopt if elected to the White House. The former president also had a spotty record in the White House of attracting foreign investment. For example, Trump promised a $10 billion investment by Taiwan-based electronics giant Foxconn in Wisconsin, creating potentially 13,000 new jobs, that the company never delivered.
It’s also not clear how possible it is for a president to offer these perks to foreign corporations. The Bureau of Land Management has restrictions on foreign entities looking to lease lands. Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to an inquiry Monday night about whether companies from China would be excluded, given his longtime accusations that China is hurting American business.
The Republican presidential nominee is set to go over this plan in Savannah, Georgia, which has one of the busiest ports in the country for cargo shipped in containers.
It is Trump’s first visit in this battleground state stop since a feud between the former president and the Republican Gov. Brian Kemp came to an end last month with the popular Georgia governor finally endorsing Trump.
Some Republicans have said they fear Georgia has gotten more politically competitive in the two months since Vice President Kamala Harris launched her presidential bid after President Joe Biden abandoned his reelection efforts. Harris gave a speech in Atlanta last Friday, calling Trump a threat to women’s freedoms and warning voters he would continue to limit access to abortion if elected president.
Trump’s running mate JD Vance is holding a rally later this week in Georgia as well as paying a visit to Macon.
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