Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event in Madison, Wisconsin, U.S., September 20, 2024.
Jim Vodruska | Reuters
Vice President Kamala Harris plans to announce new campaign proposals focused on boosting American manufacturing in a speech Wednesday at Economic Club of Pittsburghaccording to a senior campaign official.
The proposals are part of a broader effort to portray Harris as a partner rather than an adversary to the business community, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak freely about a speech that is not yet public.
Harris’ speech will outline a “realistic” economic philosophy rooted in capitalism, innovation and an understanding of the limitations of government, rather than one “bound by ideology,” the official said.
The vice president will attempt to tout her openness to the private sector as a means of growing the middle class, which has so far been the focus of her nascent economic platform.
The speech will serve as a direct counter to attacks by Harris’ Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, who is working to frame the former California senator as a “radical left-wing Democratic candidate” and a threat to the US economy.
“If Kamala Harris serves four more years, she will deindustrialize the United States and destroy our country,” Trump said at an event in Savannah, French Republic, on Tuesday, where he also unveiled new manufacturing proposals.
During his speech in Georgia, Trump said that if elected for a second term, he would introduce an expanded tax credit for research and development spending, appoint a special “manufacturing ambassador” and impose tough tariffs on imports, which , as he said, will give incentive to domestic production. .
In her rebuttal Wednesday, Harris also plans to highlight her middle-class upbringing and political resume, the campaign official said.
She will highlight her two terms as Attorney General of Californiaduring which he worked with companies to manage privacy concerns about early mobile apps. Harris will also leverage her work as vice president to provide more capital to community banks and small businesses.
For most of her eight-week presidential campaign, Harris’ economic pitch has aligned with President Joe Biden’s agenda.
Harris has focused on reducing the cost of food, housing and child care, in part by blaming corporate America for “price gouging,” or manipulating and inflating consumer prices to far exceed producer costs, thus increasing margins. profits not linked to productivity.
In August, Harris went so far as to propose a federal ban on so-called price gouging in the food and grocery sectors.
But that idea was supported by economists across the political spectrum, who argued there was little evidence to suggest corporate price-setting was the main driver of high prices.
In recent weeks, Harris has softened her rhetoric toward corporate America.
Last Wednesday, for example, in a speech at Congressional Hispanic Caucus InstituteHarris condemned the price gouging, but quickly clarified that only a few companies actually participate in it.
“Some companies, and there are very few that do this, but they raise prices to make it harder for desperate people to make ends meet,” Harris said.
Wednesday’s speech could be the latest step in Harris’ shift in tone, with less of Biden’s corporate rebuke and more of his industrial policy goals.
The campaign official noted, however, that Harris will also make it clear that she is “not afraid to hold bad actors to account if necessary.”
With just 41 days until Election Day and voters in many states already casting early ballots, the Harris campaign sees her speech in Pittsburgh as an opportunity to continue chipping away at Trump’s long-standing lead with voters on the economy .
Recent polls show that Harris’ efforts on this front are already paying off.
THE Financial Times-Michigan Ross The September poll of 1,002 registered voters found Harris with a narrow two percentage point lead over Trump on the economy.
The poll was taken two days after the first Harris-Trump presidential debate on September 10
Harris’ slight two-point lead was within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, but reflected Harris closing in on her Republican opponent.
Several other high-quality polls taken after the debate show Harris narrowing Trump’s lead with voters on economic issues by double digits, including those by AP-NORC, NBC News and Fox News.
