SAVANNAH, Ga. (WCSC/WTOC) – Former President Donald Trump told supporters in Savannah on Tuesday that he wants to lead what he called “a manufacturing Renaissance.”

He said his proposed 15% “Made in America” tax rate will stop U.S. businesses from moving jobs overseas. He said he also wants to take jobs and factories from other countries.

“If you don’t make your product here then you will have to pay a tariff, a very substantial tariff when you send your product to the United States,” he said.

Among the ideas he is planning to pitch is luring foreign companies to the U.S. by offering them access to federal land. He teased the plan earlier this month when he proposed the cut to the corporate tax rate.

“We’re cutting the business tax from 21% to 15% which makes us the most competitive tax anywhere on the planet, but only for those who make their product in the USA. See, that’s an incentive,” he said. “This new American industrialism will create millions and millions of jobs.”

His opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, wants to raise it to 28%. The corporate rate had been 35% when he became president in 2017, and he later signed a bill lowering it.

Up until now, Trump has mostly framed his economic approach with measures to punish companies that take their businesses offshore. But on Tuesday, he is set to reveal incentives for foreign firms to leave other countries and migrate to the U.S. The former president wants to personally recruit foreign companies and to send members of administration to do the same.

Trump has not answered specific questions about his ideas that could change their impact and how much they cost. He has not specified, for example, whether his U.S.-focused corporate tax cuts would apply to companies that assemble their products domestically out of imports.

The former president wants to personally recruit foreign companies and to send members of his administration to do the same. But he had a spotty record in the White House of attracting foreign investment. For example, Trump promised a $10 billion investment by Taiwan-based electronics giant Foxconn in Wisconsin, creating potentially 13,000 new jobs, that the company never delivered.

Among the incentives he has proposed is offering foreign companies access to federal land. The Bureau of Land Management has restrictions on foreign entities looking to lease lands. Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to an inquiry Monday night about whether companies from China would be excluded, given his longtime accusations that China is hurting American business.

And he vowed to boost auto manufacturing if elected again, saying, “I want German car companies to become American car companies.”

BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen already have major plants in the U.S., and forcing a larger migration of car manufacturing to the U.S. would take years and likely drive up costs.

It was Trump’s first visit in the battleground state stop since a feud between the former president and the Republican Gov. Brian Kemp came to an end last month with the popular Georgia governor finally endorsing Trump.

Some Republicans have said they fear Georgia has gotten more politically competitive in the two months since Vice President Kamala Harris launched her presidential bid after President Joe Biden abandoned his reelection efforts. Harris gave a speech in Atlanta last Friday, calling Trump a threat to women’s freedoms and warning voters he would continue to limit access to abortion if elected president.

Trump on Sunday declined an invitation for a second debate with Democratic candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris accepted an invitation from CNN for a second debate on Oct. 23.

“It’s too late to do another. I’d love to, in many ways, but it’s too late,” he said, noting that voting has already started in parts of the country.

Copyright 2024 WCSC. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved.