Deere's CEO Talks Trump's Infrastructure Plan And Taxes

Samuel Allen is the CEO of Deere & Company DE and was a guest on CNBC's "Squawk Alley" segment on Thursday to talk about President Donald Trump's infrastructure plan and tax cuts.

Infrastructure Plan

The White House is now expected to release details of its $1 trillion infrastructure plan at some point this year, and this is encouraging as many assumed the details won't be released until next year.

Allen, the chairman of the U.S. Council on Competitiveness, did note that it could take up to 18 months after the infrastructure project is announced and funded to see any stimulative impact. However, he did note that any positive impact would last at least five to 10 years.

Taxes

Moving on to tax reform, Allen stated that any border adjustment tax would indeed help Deere since the company is a notable net-exporter of its products. On the other hand, Allen expressed some concern over the company's farmer customers.

"If, as a result of the adjustment tax, it has an unintended consequence of causing countries like China and Mexico to buy their agriculture commodities from other countries, that would be negative for U.S. farmers that do a lot of exporting to China, Canada and Mexico," Allen emphasized.

Allen also said that any form or economic protectionism won't be beneficial for any global company, including Deere. However, the company has the ability to adjust to any new reality but the fact is it is much more efficient to have open and free trade.

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