Donald Trump has suggested that the nearly 90,000 recently hired Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees may be relocated to the border.
Shortly after taking office, the Republican president signed an executive order halting the hiring of all federal civilian workers until his administration can assess whether it serves the national interest.
The freeze on hiring is not exclusive to the IRS but extends to all federal agencies, and he also suspended funding for the bipartisan infrastructure law, also known as the Inflation Reduction Act.
President Trump’s order has since thrown the future of about 87,000 new IRS agents who had been hired for the 2022 Act into jeopardy.
According to Forbes, they were meant to ‘focus on work pursuing high-wealth individuals, complex partnerships, and large corporations that do not pay taxes owed’.
However while speaking to a crowd of roughly 2,000 people at the Circa Resort & Casino in downtown Las Vegas today, he said they may be ‘moved to the border’.
‘They hired – were trying to hire 88,000 new workers to go with you, and we’re in the process of developing a plan to either terminate all of them or maybe we move them to the border,’ the President said amongst cheers.
‘I think we’re going to move them to the border where they are allowed to carry guns. You know, they’re so strong on guns. But these people are allowed to carry guns. So we will probably move them to the border.’
Apart from halting new hiring, the new leader also announced the creation of a complimentary agency to the IRS to deal with external taxes and tariffs.
Like the IRS, the External Revenue Service (ERS) will collect and uphold laws related to taxes on foreign countries.
It comes after Trump said in November that he will impose a 25 percent tariff on Canada and Mexico.
He also wants to put an additional 10 percent tax on goods from China – on top of other existing tariffs.
‘I will immediately begin the overhaul of our trade system to protect American workers and families,’ Trump said during his speech at the Capitol on Monday.
‘Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens.’
Trump went on: ‘For this purpose, we are establishing the External Revenue Service to collect all tariffs, duties and revenues.’
‘It will be massive amounts of money pouring into our Treasury – coming from foreign sources,’ he concluded.
‘The American dream will soon be back and thriving like never before.’
The proposed 25 percent tariff would represent a significant escalation in trade tensions and could impact a wide range of industries, from agriculture to automotive manufacturing.
He also warned world leaders they could face crippling economic sanctions if they don’t start manufacturing in America in a blistering speech to the World Economic Forum on January 23.
The president said nations ‘will pay’ if they opt against doing business in the United States and touted a return to the ‘Golden Age’ of financial prosperity.
He also offered an incentive of lower taxes and rates to nations that choose to move more of their business while he is in the White House.
In remarks putting the globe on notice, he said his message was very simple: ‘Come make your product in America and we will give you among the lowest taxes of any nation on earth… but if you don’t make your product in America, then very simply, you will have to pay a tariff.’
As he rolled out his strategy to boost American manufacturing, he also urged Canada to become the 51st state to avoid the crippling economic sanctions he could deploy worldwide.
For the latest White House gossip and news, listen to new politics podcast, Welcome to MAGAland: Inside Trump’s Second 100 Day’s. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
