Donald Trump promised to cut corporate taxes and speed up approvals to a boisterous crowd at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday.

Trump, surrounded by family and Cabinet nominees including potential Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and potential Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., rang the opening bell at the NYSE, where he received a warm welcome from traders and business leaders. Among the participants were David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs (GS), Jane Fraser, boss of Citigroup (C), and Hans Vestberg of Verizon (VZ).

“We’re going to cut taxes even further,” Trump told CNBC’s Jim Cramer from the trading floor. “You pay 21 (percent) if you don’t build here … and if you do, we’ll try to get it down to 15 percent, but you have to build your product and manufacture it in the United States.”

Trump also said in his remarks earlier in the morning that he would give “a very expedited approval process” to “anyone who invests a billion dollars or more.” Trump first proposed the initiative in a Truth Social post on Wednesday.

First elected president to visit the stock exchange

Thursday’s NYSE event coincided with Trump being named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year for the second time. He was awarded the title in 2016 after his first successful presidential run.

Trump is the first president-elect to visit the stock market. Ronald Reagan was the first sitting president to visit the stock market in 1985. George W. Bush, who made a surprise visit in January 2007, is the only other president to visit the stock exchange while in office.

Trump is known for paying more attention to stock market performance than previous presidents. On Wednesday, he bragged that the economy and stock market had “the best three years ever until COVID came.” He added that stocks had recovered from their COVID selloff before he left office in January 2021 .

Support for the development of AI

Trump also emphasized his desire to support the development of artificial intelligence in America. “We will be far ahead of AI and will need to produce enormous amounts of energy,” he said. He added that Lee Zeldin, his nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, “will give us permits very quickly.”

Asked whether Trump would encourage ordinary investors to buy more stocks before his inauguration, he sounded cautious.

“I don’t want to get into a situation where they do it and we have a decline or something like that, because that can always happen,” he said. Nevertheless, he was confident in his new government. “I think you’re going to have some great days ahead of you,” he said.