Smithton, Penn. (AP) — Donald Trump is traveling to the swing state of Pennsylvania on Monday to speak about his plans to counter the U.S. reliance on China with a group led by a loyalist who served as his top intelligence official.
The former president and Republican presidential nominee has two appearances. The first in a rural area outside of Pittsburgh hosted by the Protecting America Initiative, which is led by Richard Grenell, Trump’s former acting director of national intelligence, and former New York congressman Lee Zeldin.
Trump has embraced tariffs as he tries to appeal to working-class voters who oppose free-trade deals and the outsourcing of factories and jobs. His event is billed as focusing on proposals to increase America’s food supply and to protect U.S. farmers.
The ɫtv Agricultural Law Center estimates that 24 states ban or limit foreigners without residency and foreign businesses or governments from owning private farmland. The issue emerged after a Chinese billionaire bought more than 130,000 acres and another Chinese company sought to in North Dakota.
The site of the former president's first event was surrounded by hilly farmland. The campaign lined dozens of Trump yard signs along the narrow road leading into the area, and invited locals to participate in a roundtable at a barn house, complete with two green tractors, bales of hay and a giant American flag.
Rex Murphy, from a nearby rural community who raises cattle and grows corn and hay, said farmers support Trump in this area, and said he wanted fewer taxes and “more freedom.”
“I want him to do everything for the economy,” said Murphy, 48. “If he just becomes president, and he does what he does, he will do more.”
Later Monday, Trump is holding a rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania, east of Pittsburgh, where he is hoping conservative, white working-class voters help him pull ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris, his opponent.
Harris is herself visiting Pennsylvania on Wednesday.
Over the weekend, Trump shared that he for president in 2028 if he loses the 2024 election. That was noteworthy both because Trump seemed to rule out a fourth bid for the White House and because he rarely admits the possibility he could legitimately lose an election.
Trump flirted with running for president for years before his successful 2016 bid and has often played up his deliberations to stay in the headlines.
His running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, was visiting North Carolina on Monday. Trump rallied there on Saturday, making direct appeals to women on the issue of reproductive rights. The former president argued women would be safe and prosperous and would “no longer be thinking about abortion.”
Both Trump and Vance are navigating the fallout from an detailing how North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, a Republican running for governor, made racial and sexual comments on a website where he also referred to himself as a “black NAZI.”
Robinson had been a frequent presence at Trump's North Carolina campaign stops. The Republican presidential nominee referred to him as “Martin Luther King on steroids” for his speaking style. But on his Saturday rally in Wilmington, Trump campaigned without him and did not mention him by name.
