(Bloomberg) President Donald Trump promised a "very major" border tax and said he would cut regulations by 75 percent at a breakfast meeting with business leaders.
The gathering of corporate executives at the White House kicked off the first working day of a president who made the promise of greater economic opportunity for American workers a centerpiece of his campaign. Trump plans to continue the theme Monday by signing executive orders on trade and labor issues and before meeting in the afternoon with labor leaders and U.S. workers, an administration official said.
Trump’s breakfast meeting convened an advisory panel on manufacturing, led by Andrew Liveris, chief executive officer of Dow Chemical Co.
At the breakfast meeting, Trump said he would cut taxes to rev up economic growth.
"We are going to be cutting taxes massively for both the middle class and for companies, and that’s massive," Trump told the corporate executives.
He suggested that a roll-back of business regulations would be a particular focus of his economic plan, saying his observation has been that "regulation wins" over tax cuts as the more important factor in promoting growth.
Other business leaders at the morning meeting with Trump included Michael Dell, chairman and CEO of Dell Inc.; Jeff Fettig, chairman and CEO of Whirlpool Corp.; Mark Fields, president and CEO of Ford Motor Co.; Alex Gorsky, chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson; Marillyn Hewson, chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corp.; and Klaus Kleinfeld, chairman and CEO of Arconic Inc.
Also participating were Mario Longhi, president and CEO of United States Steel Corp.; Elon Musk, chairman and CEO of Tesla Motors Inc.; Kevin Plank, CEO and founder of Under Armour Inc.; Mark Sutton, chairman and CEO of International Paper Co.; and Wendell Weeks, chairman and CEO of Corning Inc.
- Kevin Cirilli and Margaret Talev
