Former president Donald Trump included “new and modern agricultural techniques” on a crowded list of potential investments from a proposed wealth fund that might be bankrolled by import tariffs. During a speech on Thursday to the Economic Club of New York, Trump said tariffs could serve several functions, including paying down the federal deficit, encouraging domestic manufacturing, and supporting a wealth fund for national growth.
“We will invest in new and modern agricultural techniques so we can have safe, healthy, high-quality foods for our families,” said the Republican presidential candidate. “That’s where Bobby [Robert Kennedy Jr.] is so interested, foods. He says we’re putting a lot of bad foods into our bodies. You look at other countries which do far less, and they’re actually much healthier than we are.”
Kennedy, an anti-vaccine activist who was running as an independent for president, endorsed Trump two weeks ago.
During his hour-long speech, Trump said the United States could benefit from having a sovereign wealth fund, as some other nations do. It could be used to pay for highways, airports, manufacturing hubs, “advanced defense capabilities, cutting-edge medical research,” and disease prevention, he said, along with agricultural research. Trump did not say how a wealth fund would be created or how large it should be.
To watch a video of the speech, click here.