Trump: Planned Car-Loan Tax Deductions Solely for US-made Vehicles

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The former president has tweaked his previous proposal, which is part of a series of planned tax breaks he has outlined.

Former President Donald Trump has revised the details of his proposal to give car buyers a tax break.

Trump, speaking at an Oct. 22 campaign rally in Greensboro, N.C., said that anyone who takes out a car loan would be able to deduct those payments “fully” from federal taxes, but “only if the car is manufactured in the United States.”

In response, the crowd at the 5,000-seat Greensboro Complex chanted, “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!”

Limiting deductibility for loans on domestically produced cars would likely incentivize people to buy cars made in America, thus boosting U.S. automakers, Trump said, who has pledged to enact a number of tax-relief measures if he wins reelection on Nov. 5.

Trump had first announced the plan to allow car-loan tax deductions on Oct. 10 at a meeting of the Detroit Economic Club in Michigan, a state where automobile manufacturing has played a vital economic role for decades.

However, at that event, Trump didn’t specify that loans on cars produced overseas would be excluded from the tax-deductible provision.

Afterward, “I just made a decision to do it a little bit differently,” he told the audience in Greensboro.

North Carolina has been anticipating the opening of its first auto-manufacturing plant. Vietnamese automaker VinFast broke ground on a $4 billion electric-vehicle manufacturing plant in 2023. But the plant’s opening, set for this year, has been delayed to 2028 because the demand for electric cars has failed to increase as much as projected.

Importance of North Carolina

The Tar Heel State is among a handful of swing states that is likely to decide the presidential race between the former president, a Republican, and Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat. In North Carolina—and many other states—a margin of less than 1 percent separates the two contenders, according to the RealClearPolitics average of opinion polls as of Oct. 23.

Both candidates have made repeat campaign stops in North Carolina this month. Trump’s Greensboro rally marked his fourth North Carolina appearance within a two-day span; Harris’s last visit to the state was at a rally on Oct. 13 in Greenville.

Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris takes the stage during a campaign rally at the Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum on the campus of East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., on Oct. 13, 2024. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) — Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris takes the stage during a campaign rally at the Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum on the campus of East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., on Oct. 13, 2024. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

She also had visited Charlotte and surveyed damage from Hurricane Helene on Oct. 6. Trump also visited on Oct. 5.

During his Greensboro rally, Trump reiterated his plans to implement policies intended to help businesses as well as consumers.

“This state was once the beating heart of American manufacturing,” he said, “but politicians allowed your jobs to be stolen from you and plundered to other countries.”

North Carolina had been renowned for finely crafted furniture, the former president said, but that industry has been decimated. He blamed tariff policies that failed to shield American businesses from foreign competition., adding that he personally appreciated the quality of “artisan”-produced North Carolina furniture.

In addition, Trump promised, “I will protect our workers.”

“I will massively cut taxes for workers and small businesses,“ he said, also advocating for ”no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on social security benefits.”

Trump also repeated his pledge to cut energy costs by 50 percent within the first year of a second Trump administration. He said he will lower energy costs by increasing oil production, reversing “green” policies, and loosening business regulations. If energy costs decrease, so does the cost of almost everything else, he said, acknowledging that people have been struggling with high prices for daily essentials, such as groceries and gasoline.