Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump defended his plans to overhaul the US economy through dramatic tariff increases and more direct consultation with the Federal Reserve, arguing that his policies would result in substantial growth despite projections that his agenda would fuel inflation and spike the national debt.
“It’s going to have a massive effect, positive effect,” Trump told Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait on Tuesday in an interview at the Economic Club of Chicago.
Throughout the hour-long exchange, Trump repeatedly dismissed predictions by economists that his policies would have a net-negative impact on the economy and pass costs onto US consumers.
The former president shrugged off the possibility that his proposed tariffs might disrupt supply chains or squeeze small businesses, saying companies would rapidly return manufacturing to the US to avoid the levies. He argued that the impact of his plans to deport millions of undocumented migrants would be offset by legal migration. And, he said, his leadership would inspire loyalty rather than anger from allies.
“We’re all about growth,” Trump said. “We’re going to bring companies back to our country.”
The Republican nominee’s claims were warmly received by attendees at the event, who cheered his argument that dramatically increasing tariffs on foreign goods would protect “the companies that we have here and the new companies that will move in.”
The room was packed with about 600 people and a sizable contingent of Trump staffers. Executives in the room included Ashley Duchossois, chair of Duchossois Capital Management, the Chicago-based dynasty that’s known for its ties to the Churchill Downs racetrack and traditionally votes Republican. Carole Brown, Chicago’s former chief financial officer under then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel, attended as a member of the club.
Pat Greco, wearing a red hat with Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan and a dark suit, stood out in the ballroom. The 32-year-old corporate attorney said it was his first Trump event, though he had met the former president once before.
“I was shocked he was coming, to be honest,” Greco said before Trump started speaking.
Trump is banking on a similar reception from voters, who are already casting their ballots in what polls forecast to be a razor-thin contest with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris three weeks before Election Day.
Trump indicated he would pursue many of the norm-smashing tactics of his first term were he returned to the Oval Office, including seeking greater influence at the Federal Reserve.
While the former president sidestepped a question about whether he would seek to remove Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, he said it was fair game for a president to tell the central bank’s chief how he thinks interest rates should change.
“If you’re a very good president with good sense, you should be able to at least talk to him,” Trump said, adding that he did not believe a president should be able to mandate change.
Trump also mocked the job of running the Fed.
“It’s the greatest job in government,” Trump said. “You show up to the office once a month and you say, ‘let’s say flip a coin’ and everybody talks about you like you’re a God.”
Trump also dismissed concerns over the federal deficit, long a focus of Republican presidential campaigns, arguing without evidence that the totality of his economic platform would outpace the cost to taxpayers.
The former president has vowed to carry out an aggressive campaign of deregulation, renew expiring tax cuts, lower the corporate tax rate to 15% from 21%, and offer fresh tax reductions and benefits to bolster domestic manufacturing — policies cheered by prominent Wall Street and corporate leaders.
But the proposals would cost trillions of dollars and threaten to worsen a US federal deficit that’s already historically large. Some investors are betting Trump’s policies will leave the US saddled with more debt and higher inflation and interest rates. America’s annual deficit is already close to $2 trillion.
Trump has sought to offset some of those costs by threatening across-the-board tariffs, which he aims to impose on both US allies and adversaries, including a 60% levy on imports from China and 10% duties on the rest of the world.
Trump said the tariffs would help “tremendously” in preventing China and other countries from flooding the US with products that threatened key industries, like the auto sector.
But economists say tariffs are unlikely to create the revenue he needs. The Peterson Institute for International Economics estimates the tariffs could raise over $200 billion a year. The US took in an estimated $4.9 trillion in revenue in fiscal 2024.
Trump dismissed those projections, saying doubters were simply “wrong” about the impact of tariffs.
“We will grow,” he said. “The only way you can do it is through the threat of tariffs.”
Occasionally testy exchanges included many of the unproven assertions or falsehoods that have peppered Trump’s campaign events, from inaccurate claims about the number of undocumented migrants who have been convicted of murder to claiming fraud was to blame for his defeat in the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.
On migration, Trump acknowledged the concerns of business owners worried his proposed immigration raids could shrink the labor supply, but indicated he would replace those migrants with people coming into the country legally.
“I want a lot of people to come into our country but I want them to come in legally,” Trump said.
During his first term, Trump proposed immigration policies that would have reduced the number of immigrants entering the country and prioritized high-skill workers, which economists warned could impact industries currently reliant on migrant labor.