Former President Donald Trump said in an economic address Thursday that the U.S. has allowed "big companies" to "come in and raid and rape our country."
"'Oh, he used the word 'rape.' That's right. I used the word 'rape,'" Trump said at the Detroit Economic Club after his remarks were met with what sounded like some gasps from the audience. "They raped our country," he repeated.
Trump did not specify what companies he was referring to but indicated he was talking about businesses that export goods to the U.S. that were made overseas.
"So here’s the deal that I will be offering to the world, to companies outside of our world, big companies, powerful companies, that have become powerful because we were stupid, we were stupid. We allowed them to come in and raid and rape our country. That's what they did," he said.
Trump proceeded to tout his plan to provide incentives for companies in other countries to open factories here, saying "the United States will give you the lowest taxes, the lowest energy costs" and the "lowest regulatory burdens."
The breaks would be available "only if you make your products here in America," he said, "and you have to hire American workers."
Trump added that his administration would impose a “tax or tariff” on companies that do not manufacture their goods in the U.S.
When asked for further details and which companies Trump was referring to, his campaign said that “weak and inept career politicians like Kamala Harris have sold out our country with bad deals.”
“When President Trump is back in office, he will institute a 15% corporate tax rate for companies that make products here in America and ensure foreign companies doing business in the United States don’t rip us off,” campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
Trump, who engaged in a trade war with China when he was in office, has made the tax break or tariffs plan the centerpiece of his economic plan.
Trump and his company have a long history of making Trump-branded products in countries like China, Indonesia, Turkey and Canada.
Trump used similarly loaded language during his 2016 presidential campaign when he singled out China. He said at the time that the country's currency devaluation would "suck the blood out" of America and then told rallygoers in Indiana, “We can’t continue to allow China to rape our country.”
“That’s what they’re doing. It’s the greatest theft in the history of the world,” he said.
Trump himself faced a rape claim in civil court, when he was sued by writer E. Jean Carroll in 2022. Carroll claimed that he raped her during an encounter in a New York City department store in the mid-1990s, and she was able to file the suit because of a New York law that had been passed in 2022 allowing civil actions in such cases even though the statute of limitations had long expired.
Trump denied Carroll's "disgusting" allegations but waived his right to testify at the trial. The jury found Trump not liable for rape but liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll.
Trump is appealing the $5 million verdict, as well as a subsequent $83 million defamation verdict stemming from comments he made about Carroll when he was president.
