Harris makes a 'capitalist' pitch to boost the economy

Kamala Harris waves after speaking at a campaign event Wednesday at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

By Zeke Miller, Steve Peoples and Josh Boak

Sept. 25, 2024 4:47 PM PT

PITTSBURGH — Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday pledged to build an economy that is both pro-business and helps the middle class as she pushed back against Republican nominee Donald Trump ’s claims that she’s advancing “communist” ideas.

The Democratic nominee said in remarks at the Economic Club of Pittsburgh in battleground Pennsylvania that she “would take good ideas from wherever they come” as she promised to double the number of people being trained in registered apprenticeships and outlined her support for more home ownership.

“As president, I will be grounded in my fundamental values of fairness, dignity and opportunity,” Harris said. “And I promise you, I will be pragmatic in my approach.”

Little more than a hour before her speech, Trump offered his own competing vision of the economy while visiting a furnituremaker in Mint Hill, N.C. He defended his idea for a special lower tax rate for U.S. manufacturers and pledged to impose tariffs high enough that there would be an “exodus” of auto factory jobs from Japan, Germany and South Korea.

“I’m imposing tariffs on your competition from foreign countries, all these foreign countries that have ripped us off, which stole all of your businesses and all of your jobs years ago,” Trump said.

The dueling speeches by the two candidates reflected how they’re honing their economic messages for voters in battleground states. Both are trying to counter criticism while laying out their best cases for a public that still worries about the economy’s health. Trump is focused on the idea of U.S. dominance over foreign competitors, while Harris is stressing the importance of supporting the middle class and entrepreneurs.

Harris later sat down for an interview with MSNBC and reacted to Trump’s calls for tariffs, saying, “You don’t just throw around the idea of, just tariffs across the board.” She added of her opponent: “He’s just not serious about very many of these issues.”

In the interview, the vice president also renewed her calls for raising corporate tax rates, saying, “I’m not mad at anyone for achieving success, but everyone should pay their fair share.”

Those remarks came after Harris’ speech focused on her broader philosophy and what she’s trying to achieve for the economy. That was in contrast to Trump’s, which was more freestyle, including insinuations about Iranian connection to the two assassination attempts against him.

The former president said the corporate tax rate would drop from 21% to 15% for companies that make their products domestically if he were elected. The Republican nominee suggested that his support for broad tariffs as high as 20% have made him an international target.

“This is why people in countries want to kill me,” he said. “They’re not happy with me.”

The candidates are each emphasizing the economy at a time when polls show that it is one of the most important issues for voters as they consider who to support. A recent AP-NORC poll found that neither candidate has a decisive edge with the public on the issue.

Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event Wednesday in Mint Hill, N.C.

Both say their own approach will do more to ensure that the U.S. economy — and not China’s — leads the world in this century. Both are eager to embrace an image as a tax cutter and are accusing the other of backing massive tax hikes on the middle class. It’s a meaningful shift in messaging as inflation concerns have ebbed somewhat with the Federal Reserve cutting its benchmark interest rates last week.

Harris rebutted Trump by saying that she is a capitalist who believes in an “active partnership between government and the private sector.” She said Trump has “no intention to grow our middle class — he’s only interested in making life better for himself and people like himself.”

The Democratic nominee plans to provide $100 billion worth of tax breaks and other incentives to build up U.S. manufacturing and emerging technologies, according to a person familiar with her plans who provided details on the condition of anonymity. She has a forthcoming brochure to outline her vision for the economy.

Elsewhere, billionaire Mark Cuban said business leaders like him are backing Harris because she has taken considered stances that companies can understand even when they have a different perspective.

“I want a president that for business goes into details and has a policy team that understands all the ramifications of what’s been proposed,” Cuban said on a Tuesday call with reporters set up by the Harris campaign.

The Harris campaign’s efforts to show business support have overlapped with Trump’s in offering a host of populist ideas. In addition to wanting no taxes on tips, Social Security or overtime pay, Trump wants to limit the interest rate on credit cards to 10% and set up low-tax zones on federal lands to lure employers. Trump also wants to ditch the cap on the deduction of state and local taxes that he put into the tax code in 2017 while president.

Both candidates see an opportunity to trash the other’s tax ideas. Trump recently dubbed Harris the “tax queen.” She wants to raise the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%, as well as tax the unrealized capital gains of people worth more than $100 million. She would use the revenue from that and other policies to sustain tax cuts for the middle class that are set to expire after 2025 as well as offer new tax breaks to parents and entrepreneurs. Many of her policies build on ideas initially proposed by President Biden.

Trump claims her tax hikes would ultimately trickle down to the middle class.

“She’s coming for your money,” he told an audience on Monday. “She’s coming for your pensions, and she’s coming for your savings.”

Harris has shown that two can play that game. She labeled his call for tariffs a “national sales tax,” as it could increase the cost of coffee, clothes, electronics, autos and almost anything that gets imported or depends on imported parts.

Her campaign likes to cite an analysis that originated with Brendan Duke of the Center for American Progress that estimated a 20% universal tariff would cost a typical family almost $4,000 a year. For taxpayers in the middle-income range, that sum would effectively increase their total federal taxes by 50%, according to calculations based on Treasury Department data.

Trump has long portrayed himself as someone who will slash regulations, but Harris said Wednesday that she would do likewise because “whether it’s a new housing development, a new factory or a new bridge, projects take too long to go from concept to reality.”

“China is not moving slowly,” Harris said. She added that she would reform permitting and cut red tape because “patience may be a virtue, but not when it comes to job creation or America’s competitiveness.”

Miller, Peoples and Boak write for the Associated Press.