Trump accuses Biden of ‘classic globalist betrayal’ over plans to raise taxes to pay for infrastructure

Trump argued that Biden’s ‘plan will crush American workers and decimate US manufacturing while giving special tax privileges to outsourcers, foreign and giant multinational corporations’

Former president Donald Trump has blasted what he called “Joe Biden’s radical plan to implement the largest tax hike in American history” as his successor launched an infrastructure plan which aims to create millions of jobs.

Mr Trump argued that the possible rise in taxes to pay for infrastructure projects “is a massive giveaway to China, and many other countries, that will send thousands of factories, millions of jobs, and trillions of dollars to these competitive nations”.

He added that the “plan will crush American workers and decimate US manufacturing while giving special tax privileges to outsourcers, foreign and giant multinational corporations”.

The $2 trillion package Mr Biden is pitching would mean 20,000 miles of rebuilt roads, repairs of the 10 most financially significant bridges across the US, and the end of lead pipes and service lines to transport water.

The list also includes a range of other projects that the Biden administration hopes will create millions of jobs that will push the country to a more sustainable future in the fight against climate change.

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The package will in large parts be funded by increased taxes for corporations, something Republicans are sure to oppose.

Mr Trump slammed the proposal, saying that Mr Biden’s “ludicrous multi-trillion-dollar tax hike is a strategy for total economic surrender”.

Speaking on daughter-in-law Lara Trump’s podcast The Right View, Mr Trump told supporters that they should have “hope” that he will run again in 2024. 

Ms Trump, who may run for Senate in her home state of North Carolina in 2022, asked the former president: “Do we have hope that there’s a possibility to see Donald Trump run again in 2024?”

He responded: “You do have hope, that I can tell you. You do have hope. We love our country, this country. We all owe a lot to our country but now we have to help our country.”

Sounding as if he was back in campaign mode, Mr Trump continued to hammer the Biden plan in the lengthy statement sent out by his post-presidential office.

“Biden’s policy would break the back of the American Worker with among the highest business tax rates in the developed world.

“Under Biden’s plan, if you create jobs in America, and hire American workers, you will pay MORE in taxes – but if you close down your factories in Ohio and Michigan, fire U.S. workers, and move all your production to Beijing and Shanghai, you will pay LESS.

“It is the exact OPPOSITE of putting America First - it is putting America LAST!” Mr Trump thundered.

Mr Trump argued that “this tax hike is a classic globalist betrayal by Joe Biden and his friends: the lobbyists will win, the special interests will win, China will win, the Washington politicians and government bureaucrats will win - but hardworking American families will lose”.

The White House has said that no one making less than $400,000 a year would see a rise in their taxes.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on 15 March that Mr Biden’s “priority and focus has always been on people paying their fair share, and also focusing on corporations that may not be paying their fair share either. That remains his overarching approach”.