YORK, Pa. — Former President Donald Trump visited York on Monday to outline his economic agenda for the 2024 election.
The Republican nominee for president spoke at the Precision Custom Components factory in York and spent much of his address highlighting what he says will be an increase in American manufacturing jobs if he is elected again.
"America’s future will be built right here in Pennsylvania, and it will be built by American workers,” Trump said.
Among the former president's proposals he laid out is to cut American energy prices in half in his first year in office. He also promised an overhaul of the tax and regulatory system, following the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act he signed in 2017.
He also threatened to place tariffs on foreign products coming into the country.
Trump took at Vice President Kamala Harris's economic proposals, including her proposal to reduce prices for Americans and crack down on price gouging from retailers and manufactures.
"We don't need lectures on the economy from a candidate pushing communist price controls," Trump said.
Supporters of Harris say that the plan is in fact the opposite of communism in trying to restore prices to market value rather than corporate control.
"Where they’re giving you less product for the same amount of money, somebody's got to stand up and say, 'That's enough,'" said York Mayor Michael Helfrich following the speech. "The question is, when do you stop the three biggest cereal companies from colluding and jacking up the prices on children's cereal? Sometimes, somebody has to step in."
The three-time GOP nominee also promised to bring an all-encompassing approach to American energy and bring jobs back to the country, while opponents say he failed to do so in his term in office.
"Our plan will massively cut taxes, unlock American energy, slash regulations, crack down on trade cheaters and stop outsourcing, rebuild our industrial base and bring back those beautiful words: Made in the USA," Trump said.
"Pennsylvania's economy grew $70 billion under Donald trump as president, but it's grown $165 billion, over 130% more, under the Biden-Harris presidency than it did under Donald Trump," Helfrich said. "So when a person has a chance and they don't perform, you have to grade them on that."
The former president’s goals stand in contrast to Vice President Harris’s other proposals, including an expansion of the child tax credit and a $25,000 tax credit for first time homebuyers, which Trump referred to as "reckless spending."