Republican presidential candidate former US President Donald Trump speaks during his campaign rally in Sunset Park on June 9, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
Donald Trump on Thursday floated the idea of adopting an “all-tariff policy” that would ultimately allow the U.S. to eliminate the income tax, sources told CNBC in a private meeting with the Republican presidential candidate.
According to another source in the room, at the meeting with Republican lawmakers at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington, D.C., Trump also talked about using tariffs to exploit his bargaining power with bad actors.
The comments show that Trump, who championed tariffs as a multi-tool foreign policy tool in his first term, is considering a dramatically more protectionist trade agenda if he defeats President Joe Biden in November.
Spokespeople for Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment. Trump said in a Truth Social post later Thursday morning that there was “a lot discussed at the meeting, all positive,” without providing further details.
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Trump’s comment about replacing income taxes with tariffs quickly drew criticism.
“Broadly replacing the income tax with tariffs is a sure way to hit low- and middle-income Americans hard and reward spikers,” wrote David Kamin, a professor at New York University School of Law, on X.
Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell noted that since tens of millions of Americans who pay no federal income tax would likely fall under Trump’s tariff plan, “that sounds like a huge tax increase on the lower/middle income brackets.”
Trump’s march through Capitol Hill to meet with Republican lawmakers and business leaders marked his first return to the region since Jan. 6, 2021, when the then-president urged his supporters to march to the U.S. Capitol to protest his defeat to protest against Biden in 2020.
Trump was later impeached in the House of Representatives for inciting the violent mob that stormed the Capitol and temporarily halted the president’s peaceful transfer of power.
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2024-06-13 17:08:46
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