DETROIT — Former President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he would renegotiate the North American trade deal he signed as president if elected to a second term.
Speaking before business leaders at the Detroit Economic Club, Trump said he would invoke a six-year provision that allows him to amend the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement he negotiated to replace NAFTA in 2020.
“There’s always little tricks they want to play,” Trump said at the MotorCity Casino in downtown Detroit. “I said nope, I want to be able to renegotiate at six years; otherwise, we’re not making the deal.”
Trump made the comments as he promised China would not be able to sell vehicles into the U.S. from plants it plans to build in Mexico. As currently negotiated, the USMCA allows foreign companies to export cars to the U.S. without steep duties if they are locally sourced.
“I will impose whatever tariffs are required — 100%, 200%, 1,000% — they’re not going to sell any cars into the United States with those plants,” Trump said.
Trump sketched out his plans to bring manufacturing back to the U.S., including a 15% corporate tax rate, lower energy costs, and expanded research and development tax credits.
However, he spent the majority of his remarks focused on Michigan’s auto industry, including a new tax deduction for car loans that he said would incentivize consumers to purchase new vehicles.
Trump spoke negatively of Detroit as he warned that Vice President Kamala Harris would hurt the economy if she wins in November.
“You want to know the truth? It’ll be like Detroit. Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she’s elected president,” he said. “We’re not going to let her do that to this country. We’re not gonna let it happen.”
The Harris campaign, for its part, accused Trump of copying the vice president, who two weeks ago said she would use the six-year review process to renegotiate the USMCA.
In a post on X, Harris blamed the trade agreement for the outsourcing of auto jobs. “As one of only 10 senators to vote against USMCA, I knew it was not sufficient to protect our country and its workers,” she said.
Most of the outsourcing in the auto sector occurred before either Trump or Harris held federal office. Nationally, the number of auto jobs under Trump grew slightly before the pandemic, while there has been a larger expansion under President Joe Biden.
But the transition to electric vehicles, led by the Biden administration, has revived the issue as a political flashpoint in Michigan. Trump said he would end Biden’s EV guidelines on his first day in office.
Trump painted a bleak picture of manufacturing in the U.S. as he promised to bring Detroit back to its “heyday” if elected to a second term. He blamed the outsourcing of jobs on the “stupid people” who negotiated free trade deals.
“We allowed them to come in and raid and rape our country. ‘Oh, he used the word rape.’ That’s right, I used the word rape,” Trump said. “They raped our country.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
But he also struck a lighter note as he spoke to the crowd of business leaders for more than two hours, at one point reveling in the Pontiac GTO he owned as a younger man.
“I put that top down,” he said. “See, in those days, I didn’t mind when the hair waved. Today, I’m a little more careful.”
