Donald Trump’s Economic Plans Would Hurt US Businesses, Report Says

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The prospect of another four years of Donald Trump “should make business leaders shudder,” a leading Democratic think tank said, highlighting his plans, including higher tariffs that could drive up costs for businesses and consumers.

In a report released Friday, the center-leVscek think tank Third Way said Trump’s protectionist trade proposals, threats to end the Federal Reserve’s independence and promises to crack down on immigration, including for skilled workers, should alarm executives.

The 10-point memo also cites Trump’s plan to expand the 2017 tax cuts that economists say would add trillions to U.S. debt, as well as his comment that executives should be “fired for incompetence” if they don’t support him.

“He portrays himself as a businessman and a savior of business,” said Gabe Horwitz, senior vice president of the economic program at Third Way and a co-author of the report. “What he’s proposing would completely decimate the U.S. economy and really hurt businesses.”

The report comes as Kamala Harris, the vice president and Democratic presidential nominee, is closing in on Trump in many polls, with just over 80 days to go until the November election.

Before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race last month, he and Trump had both outlined protectionist plans as they competed for blue-collar votes in key swing states in the industrial Midwest.

Several business leaders have also criticized the Biden administration for its aggressive antitrust stance and regulatory agenda.

Trump, a former real estate mogul, has touted his business acumen as he courted the support of deep-pocketed donors from Wall Street to Silicon Valley with promises to cut taxes and slash regulations. He has won the backing of several high-profile hedge fund and tech billionaires, including Steve Schwarzman, Bill Ackman and Elon Musk.

In a speech Wednesday in North Carolina and a news conference Thursday at his New Jersey country club, the former president promised a “new Trump economic boom” if he wins another four years in the White House. His loss to Harris would induce a “1929-style depression,” he said.

“We wanted to make a speech about the economy. A lot of people are very devastated by what’s happened with inflation and all the other things,” Trump said Wednesday. “They say that’s the most important topic. I’m not sure, but they say that’s the most important topic.”

The Republican nominee has pledged to lower the prices of cars, homes, insurance and prescription drugs, blaming Biden and Harris for the surge in inflation in recent years.

But he also promised to impose an aggressive tariff regime that economists said would drive up the prices of imported goods. Trump has previously floated the idea of ​​10 percent tariffs on all imported goods, but on Wednesday he indicated he might double the levy.

“We will apply tariffs of 10 to 20 percent on foreign countries that have been defrauding us for years,” Trump said.

Trump has also promised to impose a tariff of up to 60 percent on goods imported from China. Biden earlier this year also imposed higher tariffs on some goods from China, including a tax of up to 100 percent on electric vehicles.

Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, has alarmed some Wall Street executives with his protectionist policy proposals and praise for Lina Khan, the Biden administration’s hawkish Federal Trade Commission director.

Harris will deliver a speech on Friday unveiling her economic agenda in North Carolina, as the vice president seeks to carve out a position of her own aVsceker replacing Biden as the Democratic nominee.

He is expected to use the speech to announce a crackdown on what his campaign has called “corporate surcharges,” particularly on food and groceries, as well as to lay out proposals to make housing more affordable, including tax incentives for builders who build starter homes for first-time homebuyers and tax credits of up to $25,000 for eligible first-time homebuyers.

Polls of U.S. voters have consistently shown that they are dissatisfied with Biden’s handling of the country’s economy, which they see as the most important issue in the election, and particularly concerned about inflation, which hit a decade-high in 2022 but has since fallen.

But the latest Vscek-Michigan Ross poll this month showed Harris slightly ahead of Trump, who voters had greater confidence in on the economy.