President Donald Trump mentioned previously unannounced plans to work on economic development legislation to encourage companies to keep jobs in the U.S., according to a recent interview with Forbes.
“I also have another bill … an economic-development bill, which I think will be fantastic,” Trump told Forbes in an interview released Tuesday, adding that “nobody knows about” the bill and that “you are hearing about for the first time.”
The legislation would include “Economic-development incentives for companies. Incentives for companies to be here,” Trump said. Businesses that maintain jobs in America would be rewarded while companies that outsource jobs overseas would “get penalized severely.”
“It’s both a carrot and a stick,” Trump said. “It is an incentive to stay. But it is perhaps even more so–if you leave, it’s going to be very tough for you to think that you’re going to be able to sell your product back into our country.”
Little is known about how the legislation would work. The White House did not immediately return The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
Trump also reminded Forbes that wants reciprocity in America’s trade relationships with foreign nations, bemoaning the U.S.’s reticence to levy tariffs on goods from countries that charge extra for imported American products.
“What I want to do is reciprocal,” Trump said. “See, I think the concept of reciprocal is a very nice concept. If somebody is charging us 50 percent, we should charge them 50 percent. Right now they charge us 50 percent, and we charge them nothing. That doesn’t work with me.”
Congress has a tight legislative schedule after spending most of the year trying to pass Obamacare reform twice. The Senate and House are currently in the process of crafting legislation to reform the tax code for individuals and businesses, and will also have to deal with immigration reform by early next year.
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