President Donald J. Trump holds a meeting with manufacturing leaders on Thursday Feb. 23, 2017. (Photo: Reuters)
Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW) CEO Andrew Liveris said Thursday that the Trump administration is “probably the most pro-business administration since the founding fathers.” His comments came after attending a meeting with President Donald J. Trump, who hosted manufacturing leaders at the White House on Thursday,
Attendees discussed several different issues affecting business and the economy, including tax reform, deregulation, trade and infrastructure. President Trump made manufacturing and trade key issues of his campaign and, thus far, business leaders and labor leaders alike have been singing his praise. He has met with business leaders 11 times since taking office.
“We are very engaged in governments everywhere in the world. We understand red carpet economies versus red tape economies. President Obama heard from me and many other CEOs about how this is a red tape economy, yet this is one of the greatest economies, if ever the greatest in the world,” Mr. Liveris said during an interview with Neil Cavuto on the FOX Business Network. “The opportunity of this economy to grow it even more than the 2% rate is there, and what I’ve noticed about this president is that’s what he wants to do.”
Mr. Liveris also revealed that Dow Chemical supports the border-adjustment tax, a more controversial proposal among Republicans but one that enjoys wide public support. He said the company believes it will “make us more competitive as exporters from this country.”
On tax reform, he and other manufactures are looking forward to seeing a drop in the corporate tax rate, which President Trump proposed to reduce to 15%. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., indicated Republicans are willing to go to 20%, but would need additional spending cuts to offset any further rate reduction.
“We would love 20%, we’d love 15% even more,” he said, adding that he expects the deal between Dow Chemical and DuPont to “sometime in the late second quarter.”
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