Moments before President-elect Trump rang the opening bell Thursday at the New York Stock Exchange, he touted a “tremendous incentive like no other country has.”
“We’re going to give [a] tremendous incentive like no other country has. We’re cutting your taxes. We’re going to cut them very substantially,” Trump said alongside first lady Melania Trump, Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
“We got them down to 21% from probably 42 or 44%, depending on where you are. And we got them down to 21 [percent]. Everyone said that was a miracle,” he continued. “Now we’re getting them down to 15 [percent], but only if you make your product here.”
The president-elect was tapped to ring Thursday’s opening bell after being announced as Time’s Person of the Year, in recognition of his stunning political comeback and a historic year when he weathered assassination attempts and felony convictions.
TRUMP MAKES VOW TO ANYONE WHO INVESTS $1 BILLION OR MORE IN THE U.S.
The other Time finalists this year included Vice President Kamala Harris, billionaire Elon Musk, podcasting giant Joe Rogan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
As Trump readies for his inauguration in early January, some of his most talked about policies include his proposal on tariffs — in which he would enact a 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada and hike levies on China — and plans to build on his 2017 tax cuts package.
Domestic oil and energy production also took the forefront of his presidential campaign, with Trump often using the phrase, “drill, baby, drill,” to express his support in unleashing natural gas operations.
“There is no country in the world that has more,” Trump said Thursday of U.S. supply. “We’re No. 1. I brought it to No. 1 during my first term in terms of production. We’re going to be No. 1-plus. We’ll do numbers that nobody will really see before.
“And when that happens, prices are going to start coming down because people can’t afford their groceries, and they’re going to be affording their groceries very soon.”
On Wednesday, the latest inflation data from the U.S. Department of Labor showed prices for everyday goods like gasoline, groceries and rent ticked higher for consumers in November, up 2.7% on an annual basis.
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Briefly commenting on the rising financial pressure Americans are faced with when it comes to paying bills, Trump said “that should never happen in America and it’s not going to happen in America.”
“We’re going to do it right, and we’re going to take care of our people, and we’re going to do things that nobody ever thought even were possible,” the president-elect noted. “But we’re going to have an economy, the likes of which nobody’s ever seen before, and everybody’s coming back to America.”
Fox News’ David Rutz contributed to this report.