Former President Donald Trump, outlining his economic agenda Thursday, said he would use a second term to ensure Americans have "safe, healthy, high quality foods" through the use of "new and modern agricultural techniques."
“That’s where Bobby is so interested — foods,” Trump added, referring to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who endorsed him Aug. 23. “He says we’re putting a lot of bad foods in our body.”
Trump said other countries “that do far less … are actually much healthier than we are.” It wasn’t clear what he meant by “far less.”
In a wide-ranging speech at the Economic Club of New York, Trump reiterated his pledge to impose tariffs on trading partners in order to encourage manufacturing in the United States, lower the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15%, and expand R&D tax credits. Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has committed to raise the corporate tax rate to 28%.
“What we are putting forward is the most pro-American manufacturing and jobs policy in modern history for any country,” Trump said. “The plan will bring jobs and growth into our country at levels never seen before. Every business on Earth will flock to America from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and all over the world. By contrast, Comrade Kamala Harris wants to sacrifice our wealth, kill the economy, and drive jobs overseas to punish businesses.”
Trump also said the U.S. would create a Sovereign Wealth Fund, a government-owned fund that “will be used to do things that will be good for our country,” including “extraordinary national development projects, everything from highways to airports to transportation infrastructure.”
Trump said the fund will receive money from the “smart tariffs” that he pledged to implement, though he did not mention a specific percentage. In the past he has floated the idea of 10% to 20% across the-board tariffs, with higher tariffs on China of up to 60%.
“We will have the greatest Sovereign Wealth Fund of them all,” Trump said.
Trump also reiterated he will “end the electric vehicle mandate,” a reference to EPA tailpipe emissions standards that are estimated to require between 35% and 56% of new cars be EVs by 2032.
Kennedy, who endorsed Trump two weeks ago, has been named to Trump’s transition team, He has long criticized USDA for favoring large farms over small ones, and supporting an ag and food industry that churns out processed foods, “poisoning” Americans’ health, as he put it Aug, 23 when endorsing Trump.
“These agencies, the FDA, the USDA, CDC, all of them are controlled by giant for-profit corporations,” he said. “We’re going to bring healthy food back to school lunches. We’re going to stop subsidizing the worst foods with our agricultural subsidies. We’re going to get toxic chemicals out of our food. We’re going to reform the entire food system.”
Although not promised a cabinet nomination in a future Trump administration, Kennedy clearly believes he will play a role, saying Aug 23, “If President Trump is elected and honors his word, the vast burden of chronic disease that now demoralizes and bankrupts the country will disappear.”
“If I’m given the chance to fix the chronic disease crisis and reform our food production, I promise that within two years we will watch the chronic disease burden lift dramatically,” he said. “We will make Americans healthy again. Within four years America will be a healthy country. We will be stronger, more resilient, more optimistic and happier. I won’t fail in doing this.”
It seems highly unlikely Kennedy could survive the nominating process for any significant post leading an agency that deals with science — such as the Department of Health and Human Services, FDA or EPA — given his longstanding but debunked claims about vaccines, which he has claimed cause autism. In late 2021, he called the COVID-19 vaccine “the deadliest vaccine ever made.”
For more news, go to www.Agri-Pulse.com
