Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump told CNN Wednesday that he “would be open to doing something” on the minimum wage. While he did not specifically say he would increase the current federal rate of $7.25 an hour, he did not rule out a future increase after being pressed on the issue.
Trump did, however, reject raising the rate to $15, the level favored by Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, or $12 an hour, the rate favored by Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. He said a better approach would be to boost the economy overall so that there were more jobs paying well above the minimum wage. He did not say what he thought the ideal minimum wage level should be.
“I’m actually looking at that. I’m very different from most Republicans. You have to have something you can live on. But, what I’m really looking to do is to get people great jobs so they get much more money than that so, that they make much more than $15,” he told CNN. “If you play around too much with the lower level number, you won’t be competitive.”
In a November GOP presidential debate, Trump appeared to rule out any increase. “Taxes too high, wages too high, we’re not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum. But we cannot do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can’t do it,” he said.
However, Trump told Fox News later that month that his point in the debate was that the rate could not rise to the level Democrats were calling for. “They were talking about increasing the minimum wage. And whether it’s taxes or minimum wages, if they’re too high, we’re not going to be able to compete with other countries,” he said.
