Trump Promises More Regulatory Rollbacks, Touts Cryptocurrency’s Potential

NEW YORK — Rolling back regulations has been a hallmark of Donald Trump’s presidency, and he has promised to step up those efforts if he is sent back to the White House next year.

During a speech Thursday at an event hosted by the Economic Club of New York, the Republican nominee pledged to remove 10 regulations for every new regulation introduced, increasing his first-term policy of removing at least two regulations before adding another.

Noting that his administration has effectively removed five regulatory requirements for every new one added, Trump said he would be able to accelerate the rollback of regulations “fairly easily.” He said the cryptocurrency sector is one area that needs regulatory relief.

“Instead of attacking the industries of the future, we will embrace them with open arms, including making America the cryptocurrency and bitcoin capital of the world,” Trump said.

During his term, Trump was ‘not a fan’ digital asset classescalling it unstable and valued “on the basis of air.” He changed the tune in recent months, calling it “the steel industry of 100 years ago” and going so far as to support the creation of a “strategic reserve” of bitcoins.

Cryptocurrency companies and their allies have accused federal regulators of an attempt to “de-bank” an asset class in recent years. While the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency have not outright banned business with the industry, advocates say Supervisory guidelines and preferences made it harder for banks to do so. Similar concerns underlie the ongoing lawsuit from Custodia Bank — a Wyoming-based digital asset bank — against the Fed over access to the federal payments system.

Trump said deregulation would play a key role in solving the country’s problem shortage of housing supplyestimating that his approach would cut the average cost of building new homes in half. He said lower interest rates — what he said earlier should have an impact on the determination — which would also result in significant savings for homebuyers. He predicts that mortgage rates will fall to about 3% under his administration.

Trump also expanded on his plan to make federal land available for “large-scale housing” and other forms of development.

“These are going to be ultra-low-tax, ultra-low-regulation zones. This is going to be one of the best, really, small-business job programs of all time,” he said. “We’re going to open up our country to affordable housing so that young people and people can buy homes. They can’t buy homes anymore. Millions of Americans are going to be involved in moving into these safe, beautiful communities, reviving the spirit of the frontier and really, as I said, reviving the American dream.”

The biggest beneficiaries of Trump’s push to ease regulation would be the manufacturing sector, he said, singling out the auto industry several times during his hour-long prepared remarks. He also called for expanding the steel and aerospace industries, which he said would bolster the national defense.

Trump also said he would create a “government efficiency commission” tasked with conducting a financial and efficiency audit of the entire federal government to eliminate waste, fraud and mismanagement of funds. He said the group would be led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who Trump credits with coming up with the idea for the group.

In addition to deregulation, Trump’s economic agenda focuses on increasing domestic energy production and cutting taxes, including lowering the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15%, expanding the research and development tax credit, and making bonuses 100% depreciable. Democratic candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris reportedly plans to raise the corporate tax rate to 28% and will seek to Capital gains tax rate of 28% about people earning $1 million or more.

Raising tariffs is also a pillar of Trump’s policy agenda. He has said the import tax could be used to fund a variety of programs, including a child care credit for working families.

“When you talk about those numbers compared to the numbers I’m talking about, by taxing foreign countries at a level they’re not used to … those numbers are much larger than any of the numbers we’re talking about, including child care,” he said. “I can’t wait to not have a deficit in a relatively short period of time.”

During a question-and-answer session, Trump addressed the use of sanctions against foreign adversaries. He said he would use sanctions in a limited scope to protect U.S. power

“I have been a user of sanctions, but I have put them on and taken them off as quickly as possible because ultimately they kill the dollar and everything the dollar represents, and we have to continue to have it as a world currency,” he said. “It would be losing the war if we lost the dollar as a world currency. I think it would be losing the war. It would make us a third-world country, and we cannot allow that to happen.”

On Wednesday, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions for 10 individuals and two entities as part of the Biden administration’s response to alleged attempts by Russia to influence the 2024 US presidential election.