President Trump was apparently 'surprised' by his own plan to cut regulations

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 23 January 2017

President Trump admitted Monday at a White House meeting with business leaders that he was "surprised" by his administration's plans to cut regulations. "A bigger thing, and that surprised me, is the fact that we are going to be cutting regulation massively. Now we are going to have regulation and it will be just as strong and just as good and just as protective of the people as the regulation we have right now," Trump told executives from companies including Dell, Lockheed Martin, Ford, Johnson & Johnson, and SpaceX, among others. "The problem with the regulation you have right now is that you can't do anything."

Trump indicated his administration plans to slash regulations "by 75 percent" or "maybe more." Trump also noted his plans to cut taxes "massively for both the middle class and for companies" by an estimated 15 or 20 percent, and reiterated that any company that moves abroad will face "a very major border tax."