Spotlight: Trump outlines economic plan to reboot campaign amid protests

Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Monday outlined the details of what he called "America First" economic plan to rebuild momentum of his campaign, as protesters repeatedly interrupted him.

During an hour-long speech at the Detroit Economic Club, Trump blamed Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival, for America's economic woes and announced new proposals of tax breaks and cutting regulations to stimulate the sluggish growth, trying to refocus his campaign on the economy.

But his speech was interrupted more than 10 times by a series of shouting protesters, who were escorted out of the hall by security officials.

A highlight of Trump's economic proposals laid out on Monday was "an across-the-board income tax reduction," proposing reducing the current number of federal income tax brackets from seven to three.

"We will work with House Republicans on this plan using the same brackets they have proposed, 12 percent, 25 percent, and 33 percent. For many American workers, their tax rate will be zero," Trump said, adding that it would be "the biggest tax revolution since the Reagan Tax Reform" in 1980s. The current top individual tax rate is 39.6 percent.

Trump also vowed to reduce corporate tax rate to 15 percent from 35 percent and make all child-care expenses tax free, emphasizing that all policies should be geared toward "keeping jobs and wealth inside of the United States."

He said he would "bring back trillions of dollars from American businesses that are now parked overseas" with applying a 10-percent tax, and reinvested the money in states like Michigan that had serious problems.

The Republican presidential nominee also called for a temporary moratorium on new agency regulations and would seek to roll back regulations that reduce employment.

"I will ask each and every federal agency to prepare a list of all of the regulations they impose on Americans which are not necessary, do not improve public safety, and which needlessly kill many, many jobs. Those regulations will be eliminated quickly," he said.

Continuing his anti-trade rhetoric on the campaign trail, Trump promised to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and other trade deals, to strengthen trade enforcement and apply tariffs to other trading partners.

But U.S. business leaders and economists have warned that Trump' s proposed high tariffs on other countries could drag the U.S. economy into a prolonged recession and cause heavy job losses that would fall hardest on low- and middle-income workers.

"Several nonpartisan research organizations have warned that these tariffs would cause the loss of up to 4 million American jobs and impose a regressive consumption tax on the typical American family of more than 2000 U.S. dollars annually," Thomas Donohue, president and chief executive of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said in a commentary on Monday.

"Trade opposition may be politically convenient in this campaign, but it's bad policy for our country," he said, warning that retreating on trade would undermine U.S. economic growth, endanger American jobs and harm U.S. global leadership.

Trump's economic speech comes at a critical time when polls show him falling behind Clinton widely after a disastrous week that includes days of his dispute with parents of a Muslim American soldier killed in the Iraq war.

It also comes after Trump's announcement of a 13-men economic advisory council last week, which includes real estate developers,  hedge fund managers, bankers, and major donors for his campaign.

"Donald Trump's plan is just a repackaging of trickle-down economics and it doesn't help our economy or the vast majority of Americans," Clinton said on Monday via its official Twitter account. She will give her economic speech in Michigan on Thursday.   Enditem

Source:
courtesy of XINHUA NEWS AGENCY

by Xinhua News Agency

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