Former President Donald Trump on Monday unveiled his "sweeping pro-American overhaul of our tax and trade policy," which seeks to bolster American production and shed dependence on China.
"The heart of my vision," Trump conveyed, "is a sweeping pro-American overhaul of our tax and trade policy to move from the Biden system that punishes domestic producers and rewards outsourcers to a system that rewards domestic production and taxes foreign companies and those who export American jobs.
"To achieve this goal," Trump continued, "we will phase in a system of universal base-line tariffs on most foreign products. On top of this, higher tariffs will increase incrementally depending on how much individual foreign countries devalue their currency."
Trump also noted that taxes on American producers would continue to fall over time as the new tariff system is implemented, thus allowing domestic employers to hire more workers.
"As tariffs on foreign producers go up, taxes on American producers will go down and go down very substantially, and that means a lot of jobs coming in," Trump continued. "Not only will this system end our gaping trade deficits — and they are massive right now — and bring back millions of American jobs, it will also bring trillions and trillions of dollars pouring into the United States Treasury from foreign countries and allow us to invest that money in American workers, American families, and American communities.
"This plan will be the linchpin of a new strategic manufacturing initiative that builds on my historical success in ending NAFTA [North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement]," added Trump.
Concentrating solely on China, Trump presented a set of policy proposals, which included gradually discontinuing all major imports, with the aim to "completely eliminate dependence on China in all critical areas."
Trump explained the U.S. would "revoke China's most-favored-nation trade status and adopt a four year plan to phase out all Chinese imports of essential goods, everything from electronics to steel to pharmaceuticals. This will include strong protections to ensure China cannot circumvent restrictions by passing goods through conduit countries — countries that don't make a product, but all of the sudden they're selling a lot of product.
"It comes right through China, right out China, and right into our country. We will also adopt new rules to stop U.S. companies from pouring investments into China and to stop China from buying up America. ... And we will eliminate federal contracts to any company that outsources to China," added Trump.
The former commander-in-chief then posited that President Joe Biden "will never get the job done" and that "[h]e is weak on China because the corrupt Biden family has received millions and millions of dollars from entities tied to the Chinese Communist Party."
Earlier this month, The New York Times reported that the U.S. trade deficit approached $1 trillion last year, marking a 12.2% increase since 2021.
Additionally, Ana Swanson, a reporter for the Times, noted in her report that America's trade deficit with China surged by 8.3% annually to reach $382.9 billion — the second-largest amount ever recorded.
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