This week, current President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump’s campaigns are gearing up to romance corporate America with their visions of the country’s economic future.
According to Axios, Trump will be selling his plan to slash corporate taxes, while Biden’s team is expected argue against tax cuts for the wealthy and against deregulation. Back when Trump was president, he cut corporate taxes, but those cuts are set to expire next year,
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is scheduled to speak at a Thursday Economic Club of New York luncheon. There she “will defend President Biden’s approach,” to the economy thus far, said Axios. Specifically, it said she would give a status report on “modern supply side economics,” that relies on the public to spend in order to attract private investment.
“Traditional supply side economics wrongly assumes that policies such as tax cuts for those at the top and deregulation will fuel growth and prosperity for the nation at large,” Yellen will say, according to prepared remarks obtained by Axios. Since he was elected, Biden has been clear that he wants to take in more revenue from corporations to lower the country’s deficit.
Last month, the White House welcomed small business owners from the Midwest for a discussion on priorities to grow the U.S. economy “from the middle out and the bottom up.” The Biden administration also recently announced more plans for student debt relief.
However, at the same time that Biden has been trying to shift the burden to corporate America, high inflation and high interest rates have put pressure on Americans from all economic sectors. In fact, 60% of Americans polled this year said they believed the country was in a recession, even though it isn’t.
White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients is expected to make the in-person argument to the Business Roundtable in Washington, D.C., Thursday as Biden will be in Italy for the G7 summit. Trump will be at the quarterly CEO meeting himself.
“As is our usual practice, earlier this spring, Business Roundtable invited both major political parties’ presumptive presidential nominees to address our members at our June CEO Quarterly Meeting. Former President Trump has accepted. President Biden will be traveling overseas to the G7, but White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients is slated to appear in his stead,” said Business Roundtable Senior Vice President of Communications and Spokesman Michael Steel in a statement. “We invited President Biden when he was a candidate in 2020, and we were pleased that he spoke with our members in March of 2022 after becoming President. We look forward to a discussion of policy issues with former President Trump next week, and hope that President Biden will be able to join us again in the future.”
Per Axios, the Business Roundtable’s members include the CEOs of most leading U.S. companies.
“Trump is loudly and proudly calling for lower corporate taxes and less regulation,” according to the outlet. “He’s also pledging to work with specific industries, such as oil and gas companies, to dismantle Biden’s green agenda.”
Already, some prominent CEOs, such as Steve Schwarzman of Blackstone, have publicly embraced Trump, said Axios. That’s been a cause of concern for Democrats. There have also been reports that billionaire CEO Elon Musk has become a frequent advisor to the former president. In response, Biden’s team said that billionaires like Musk see Trump as a “sucker.”
“In New York, Yellen also will have a private meeting with some Wall Street bankers, including Blair Effron and Mark Gallogly, who are both Biden donors, according to people familiar with the matter,” said Axios. It also said the Biden administration launched a campaign to improve its relations with CEOs.
Trump frequently criticizes how Biden has handled the economy. In addition to championing corporate tax cuts, the former president made attempts to appeal to Americans who aren’t CEOs as well.
“I am the only Candidate who has ever called for delivering relief to our wonderful Service Workers by NOT TAXING THEIR TIPS,” he said in a Truth Social post this week. “It was my idea that Tips should not be taxed, and only I will GET IT DONE - And do it IMMEDIATELY upon my return to the White House.”
As Biden and Trump work to court corporations, The Wall Street Journal reported this week that “corporate America is sitting out the rematch.”