Donald Trump plans to lower corporate tax rate to 15% if elected as US President

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has plans to cut US corporate tax rate further down to 15 percent if he is elected in the upcoming elections and may appoint JPMorgan’s top boss Jamie Dimon as the US treasury secretary.

In a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, the former president reminded top chief executive officers of the country that he had slashed tax rates from “39 percent to 21 percent” (actually from 35 percent to 21 percent) and had promised to cut it down further to 20 percent.

“They loved it, they were happy,” Trump recalled, adding that he wants to cut the rate even lower than that “I would like to get it down to 15”. The remarks were made during a private meeting with top CEOs in Washington in June, according to the interview.

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During the interview, the former US president also discussed about two key economic positions of the country. Trump said he could consider appointing JPMorgan’s CEO Jamie Dimon as the secretary of the Treasury. “He is somebody that I would consider,” Trump said.

This is in contrast with the earlier comments of Trump, where he had called the top banker, who is considering a career in politics, a “highly overrated globalist”, according to the business magazine.

Dimon, who is not seen as a Trump supporter, had earlier made some positive remarks on the Republican candidate. “Be honest, he was kind of right about NATO, kind of right about immigration. He grew the economy quite well. Tax reform worked. He was right about some of China. … He wasn’t wrong about some of these critical issues, and that’s why they’re voting for him,” Dimon had said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January.

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Trump also clarified that he doesn’t want to remove Jerome Powell as the chair of the US Federal Reserve. Trump said he will let Powell finish his term, according to the interview.

“I would let him serve it out, especially if I thought he was doing the right thing,” Trump said.

There were reports that the former president wants to curb the independence of the US central bank. However, the president’s campaign denied endorsing any such proposals, according to the interview.

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In addition, Trump has said he will levy tariffs on trade partners and remove taxes on tips.

The Republican presidential candidate has also promised to “defeat” inflation and “quickly bring down all prices.” Trump has also said that he will allow production of more oil, natural gas and coal and scrap President Joe Biden’s policies to develop the market for electric vehicles and renewable energy. He also said his administration would carry out the “largest deportation program in American history” to address the issue of illegal immigration.

Rising expectations that former President Donald Trump will regain the White House in November are supercharging the so-called Trump trade, on views that his policies will lift corporate profits even while spurring worries about the country’s long-term fiscal health.

The two sides of the trade have been evident in recent weeks, as investors price in greater odds of a win by the Republican challenger following a disastrous performance by President Joe Biden in a late June debate and after last weekend’s assassination attempt on Trump.

Stock investors are leaning into corners of the US equity market that could benefit from proposed Trump policies such as tax cuts and regulatory easing, including small caps and energy shares. Those preferences – along with expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in coming months – are fueling a rotation out of big technology stocks and into less-loved areas of the market.

UK merchant banking firm Close Brothers estimated that a second Trump term could usher in from $4 trillion to $5 trillion of extra government borrowing over 10 years, potentially boosting inflation and weighing on bond prices.

Many investors believe monetary policy and corporate profits will ultimately overshadow politics as long-term drivers for asset prices, while much could change in the less than four months until election day.

With inputs from agencies