Trump claims he will slap tariffs on companies that don’t bring back American jobs from overseas – US politics live

One of the few major pieces of legislation Donald Trump signed as president was an overhaul of the US tax code that dropped the rate for corporations.

The former president has now told the crowd in Georgia that he would cut taxes even further, if elected to the White House in November.

“The centerpiece of my plan is for a manufacturing renaissance, which will be a 15% Made in America tax rate,” Trump said.

“Now, we’re cutting the business tax from 21% to 15%, which makes us the most competitive tax anywhere on the planet, but only for those who make their product in the USA.”

He linked the lower taxes to the economy’s success during his term – which ended suddenly when the Covid-19 pandemic began in March 2020, causing the steepest economic decline in decades:

It was the greatest economy in the history of our country, and now what we’re doing is taking it one step further, and a bigger step, actually, we’re bringing it down to 15.

The non-profit Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy earlier this year found that Trump’s 2017 tax overhaul allowed some of America’s biggest companies to pay little to no corporate taxes:

Donald Trump is onstage now in battleground state Georgia, where he’s told the crowd in Savannah that he will threaten American companies with tariffs if they don’t bring jobs back from overseas.

“I want GE, IBM and every other manufacturer that left us to be filled with regret and come sprinting back to our shores, and they will,” Trump said.

His pitch to these companies was somewhat vague:

So, as your president, here is the deal that I will be offering to every major company and manufacturer on Earth: I will give you the lowest taxes, the lowest energy costs and the lowest regulatory burden and free access to the best and biggest market on the planet, but only if you make your product here in America. It all goes away if you don’t make your product here and hire American workers for the job.

For companies that do not reshore positions, Trump said:

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. And by the way, you know, for years they knock the word. The word ‘tariff’, properly used, is a beautiful word, one of the most beautiful words I’ve ever heard. It’s music to my ears. A lot of bad people didn’t like that word, but now they’re finding out I was right, and we will take in hundreds of billions of dollars into our treasury and use that money to benefit the American citizens, and it will not cause inflation, by the way.

We will soon hear from Donald Trump, who’s in Savannah, Georgia, for a speech billed as discussing his policies on manufacturing and taxation. The big question is whether the former president will remain on topic. Kamala Harris, meanwhile, spoke to a public radio station in battleground state Wisconsin, where the vice-president said she would support repealing the filibuster in the Senate to allow passage of a law restoring the constitutional right to abortion once guaranteed by Roe v Wade. And at the United Nations in New York, Joe Biden gave his final address as president to the general assembly, urging the world to defend Ukraine while calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the weapons shipments fueling the war in Sudan.

Here’s what else is happening today:

A CNN poll conducted by SSRS and released a few minutes ago finds that the race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is deadlocked nationally.

The survey of registered voters found Harris is supported by 48%, and Trump by 47% – findings that lie within its margin of error. Other polls have found a tied race nationwide, though some have found the vice-president with the lead.

If there are any unique insights from the network’s survey, it may be voters’ reasons for backing their candidate of choice. From CNN:

Both Harris and Trump hold positive support from the majority of their backers – 72% of Trump’s supporters say their choice is more for him than against Harris, while 60% of Harris’ supporters say their choice is more for her than against him.

That’s a major shift in voters’ attitudes toward the race compared with earlier this summer. In the last national CNN poll in July, shortly after President Joe Biden ended his campaign for president and Harris threw her hat into the ring for the Democratic nomination, Harris’ backers were evenly divided between affirmative support for her and those driven by anti-Trump sentiment. And Biden’s supporters in earlier polls said they were largely expressing opposition to Trump with their choice.

In an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio today, Kamala Harris said she would support repealing the filibuster in the Senate in order to pass legislation restoring the constitutional right to abortion that Roe v Wade protected prior to its overturning two years ago.

“I’ve been very clear. I think we should eliminate the filibuster for Roe … 51 votes would be what we actually need to actually put back in law the protections for reproductive freedom, and for the ability of every person and every woman to make decisions about their own body and not have their government tell them what to do,” Harris said.

While legislation can pass with a simple majority in the House of Representatives, the Senate’s filibuster requires most legislation to receive 60 votes to pass. Repealing it would give Democrats the opportunity to enact a law restoring abortion rights, but they would also need to keep their control of the chamber to do that.

Here’s more on the obstacles the Democrats face to keeping their Senate majority:

Speaking at the United Nations right after Joe Biden was Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who had strong words for the United States over its support for Israel.

He accused America of continuing to arm Israel so it can continue its “massacre”, when in front of the stage it pretends to look for a ceasefire.

He asked Washington, a fellow Nato member, “How long are you going to be able to carry the shame of witnessing this massacre?”, adding that what has happened in Gaza is a great moral collapse. “Countries that have a say over Israel are openly complicit in this massacre,” Erdoğan said.

Joe Biden also commented briefly on the civil war in Sudan, which has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises but received comparably less attention from foreign governments and the public.

The US president called for countries to stop arming the warring parties, though did not name specific nations. Reports have emerged that the United Arab Emirates has provided a steady stream of weapons to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which has been battling the Sudanese army in the conflict that began in April 2023.

“Gaza is not the only conflict that deserves our outrage. In Sudan, a bloody civil war unleashed one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Eight million, eight million on the brink of famine, hundreds of thousands already there,” Biden said.

He continued:

The United States has led the world in providing humanitarian aid to Sudan, and with our partners who have led diplomatic talks to try to silence the guns and avert a wider famine. The world needs to stop arming the generals, to speak with one voice and tell them, stop tearing your country apart, stop blocking aid to the Sudanese people, end this war now.

Here’s the latest on the conflict in the country:

Joe Biden then shifted to the Middle East, where he called for a ceasefire deal in the war in Gaza and the release of hostages taken in the October 7 attack.

“Now is the time for the parties to finalize its terms, bring the hostages home and … ease the suffering in Gaza and end this war,” Biden said.

He then shifted to the escalating hostilities in the Middle East, decrying Hezbollah’s rocket attacks and calling for diplomacy:

Since October 7, we’ve also been determined to prevent a wider war than engulfs the entire region. Hezbollah, unprovoked during the October 7 attack, launching rockets in Israel almost a year later, too many on each side of the Israeli-Lebanon border remain displaced.

Full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest. Even if the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible. In fact, it remains the only path to lasting security to allow the residents from both countries to return to their homes and the border safely. And that’s … what we’re working tirelessly to achieve.

Here’s the latest on the crisis in Lebanon:

Joe Biden went on to address one of the United States and its allies’ top national security priorities: Ukraine and its defense against the Russian invasion.

“The good news is Putin’s war has failed at his core aim,” Biden said.

He then promised to continue to support Kyiv until it achieves a “durable peace”:

He set out to destroy Ukraine, but Ukraine is still free. He set out the weaken Nato, but Nato is bigger, stronger, more united than ever before, with two new members, Finland and Sweden, but we cannot let up. The world now has another choice to make. Will we sustain our support to help Ukraine win this war, to preserve its freedom, or walk away and let aggression be renewed and a nation be destroyed.

I know my answer. We cannot grow weary. We cannot look away and we will not let up on our support for Ukraine, not until Ukraine wins a just and durable peace in the UN charter.

Joe Biden is taking the stage now in New York City, where he’ll address heads of state gathered for the United Nations general assembly.

This will be Biden’s final address to the global body as president. We’ll let you know what he has to say.

Kamala Harris has received the endorsement of more than 400 economists and economic policy experts, who wrote in an open letter that the vice-president “will work relentlessly to build a strong, pro-growth economy for all Americans”.

The group includes former treasury, commerce and labor secretaries; a former vice-chair of the Federal Reserve; and a Nobel laureate, among many others.

Of Donald Trump, the group writes:

Donald Trump’s proposed policies risk reigniting inflation and threaten the United States’ global standing and domestic economic stability. Nonpartisan researchers have predicted that if Donald Trump successfully enacts his agenda, it will lower GDP growth and increase the unemployment rate.

The endorsements of Harris follow similar open letters from a group of more than 100 Republican foreign policy and national security officials, and more than 700 former military and national security officials.

Good morning, US politics blog readers. Joe Biden will make one of the final big speeches of his presidency at 10am ET today, when he addresses the UN general assembly in New York. The annual gathering of world leaders is a significant moment for any president, but even more so for Biden, because he’s due to depart the White House in January. His administration has not given many hints of what he might say, but in his speech you can expect him to make the case for his handling of everything from climate change to Israel’s invasion of Gaza, and potentially the escalating crisis in Lebanon.

Donald Trump, meanwhile, will be in Savannah, Georgia, to give a speech at 1pm billed as discussing his policy on taxation and manufacturing. The ex-president’s economic proposals have centered on a combination of tariffs and tax cuts that he argues would lower prices for consumer, after several years of high inflation under Biden. Economists aren’t so sure, and chances are Trump veers away from the subject anyway – he’s known to go off topic throughout his speeches. We’ll be keeping an eye on what both men have to say.

Here’s what else is going on:

• Antony Blinken may soon become the latest Biden administration official to be held in contempt. The Republican-led House foreign affairs committee has demanded he testify today, but he has reportedly told them he is busy with the UN general assembly, and when the committee meets beginning at 10.15am, they may vote to sanction him.

• A scandal brews in New York City’s suburbs. The New York Times reported yesterday that freshman Republican congressman Anthony D’Esposito gave part-time jobs to both his lover and his fiancee’s daughter, which may be a violation of House ethics rules.

• A vote in the House on a short-term funding measure to prevent a government shutdown is expected on Wednesday.