Donald Trump will vow to help boost the US auto industry in part by making interest on car loans fully tax-deductible in an economic address in swing-state Michigan on Thursday.
“This will stimulate massive domestic auto production, and make car ownership dramatically more affordable for millions of working American families,” the former president is expected to say at the Economic Club in Detroit, according to prepared remarks.
Trump will also tout a proposal to help small businesses afford work vehicles by doubling the amount of equipment investment they can deduct to $1 million from $500,000.
And the Republican presidential nominee will say that he intends to invoke the six-year renegotiation provision of the USMCA, a trade deal among North American partners that replaced NAFTA under his first administration, in order to impose “whatever tariffs are required” to ensure China doesn’t sell cars into the US that are being manufactured in Mexico.
Trump will also pledge to stop Chinese-made autonomous vehicles from operating on American roads — a policy poised to benefit billionaire backer Elon Musk, the head of Tesla Inc., who is competing with the same technology.
The administration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s general election rival, has proposed a ban on Chinese-made hardware and software for connected vehicles, citing national security concerns around automobile machinery.
The former president’s economic address in Michigan comes in a crucial battleground state that will determine the outcome of November’s election and appeals to heavy presence of auto manufacturing in the Detroit area. Both Harris and Trump are courting blue-collar workers in the state.
As Trump seeks to capitalize on the economy, an issue where voters give him the edge over Harris, he’s sharpened his attacks on the administration’s handling of the matter. Trump has argued that the state of the economy is weakening and is expected in his remarks to point to a consumer price index report from earlier Thursday, where inflation was seen quickening more than expected last month.
“It was just announced that inflation came in substantially hotter than expected last month — double what was predicted — with much of the gain coming from food prices going up, rent and housing costs going up, and car prices going up. Interest rates are a very big factor,” Trump is expected to say.
