Trump’s bid to tax companies that move jobs out of U.S. meets Republican resistance

Donald Trump’s threat to impose “retribution” on companies that move operations out of the country is meeting with pushback from his own party.

After House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on Monday refused to endorse the president-elect’s proposal to slap tariffs on American companies that move jobs overseas, the conservative Club for Growth joined the chorus.

“Tax cuts and deregulation will make the American economy great again, but tariffs and trade wars will make it tank again,” the said the group’s president, David McIntosh. “The president-elect is spot on when he calls for cutting taxes and federal regulations, but 35 percent tariffs would be devastating to consumers and businesses. The majority leader is right to caution against protectionism and to urge a robust debate on free markets and trade.”

Trump said on the campaign trail that he champions free trade, but has vowed to rip up and renegotiate trade deals. And he pledged to tax companies that move plants or operations out of the country, though it’s not clear he could single out companies for such a tax – a move that would be impossible without support from congressional Republicans.

Over the weekend Trump said via Facebook that “any business that leaves our country for another country, fires its employees, builds a new factory or plant in the other country, and then thinks it will sell its product back into the U.S. . . . without retribution or consequence, is WRONG!”

He called for a 35 percent tax for companies that move operations elsewhere but seek to sell their products in the U.S.

“This tax will make leaving financially difficult,” he wrote. “Please be forewarned prior to making a very expensive mistake! THE UNITED STATES IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS!”

This story was originally published December 5, 2016 at 3:36 PM with the headline "Trump’s bid to tax companies that move jobs out of U.S. meets Republican resistance."