Harris strikes a capitalist note while Trump pushes into populism in dueling speeches

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Mocked by Donald Trump as ‘communist’ Kamala Harris plays on her reputation as a capitalist.

Attacked by Harris as a rich kid who got $400 million from his father on a ‘silver present’ Trump leans on his raw populism.

The two presidential candidates gave dueling speeches Wednesday that reflect how they are sharpening their economic messages to voters in battleground states. Both seek to counter criticism leveled at them while laying out their best arguments to an audience still concerned about the health of the economy.

Vice President Harris will deliver a speech at the Economic Club of Pittsburgh, where she plans to emphasize a “pragmatic” philosophy while setting new policies to boost domestic manufacturing, according to a senior campaign official who sought anonymity to discuss the describe the upcoming speech. The Democratic candidate’s comments follow she told a chic audience of donors in New York City on Sunday that she would cut all the “red tape” holding back growth.

Former President Trump gave a speech in Mint Hill, North Carolina, claiming the economy was weak despite declining inflation and the unemployment rate at a healthy 4.2%. The Republican candidate has made a name for himself as a businessman, but he has recently signaled his willingness to crack down on corporations, proposing caps on interest rates on credit cards and imposing as much as 200% tariffs on tractor maker John Deere if it moves jobs to the USA Mexico.

The candidates are each emphasizing the economy at a time when polls show 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 lead with the public on the issue.

Both are eager to embrace the image of tax cuts and accuse the other of supporting massive tax increases on the middle class. It’s a meaningful shift in messaging as concerns about inflation have subsided somewhat after the Federal Reserve cut key interest rates last week.

In his speech, in which he insinuated that Iran was linked to the two assassination attempts against him, Trump defended tariffs on a group of furniture makers as a way to protect their jobs.

“If I didn’t do what I did, this building would be closed, empty and without jobs right now,” Trump said. The former president said some “Wall Street geniuses” called him about why he only promised to cut corporate taxes for companies that make their goods in the United States, and he said he told them, “I did that.” ‘

Trump said the corporate tax rate would drop from 21% to 15% for companies that make their products domestically. He said his support for tariffs makes him an international target, saying: “This is why people in countries want to kill me. They are not happy with me.”

Billionaire Mark Cuban said business leaders like him support Harris because she has taken informed positions that companies can understand, even if they have a different perspective.

“I want a president who gets down to business detail and has a policy team that understands all the implications of what’s been proposed,” Cuban said Tuesday during a call with reporters set up by the Harris campaign.

The Harris campaign’s efforts to show their corporate support overlap with Trump’s offers a range of populist ideas. In addition to wanting no taxes on tips, Social Security or overtime, he wants to cap interest on credit cards at 10% and establish low tax zones on federal lands to lure employers. Trump also wants to eliminate the cap on state and local tax deductions that he included in the tax code in 2017 when he was president.

Both candidates see an opportunity to destroy each other’s tax ideas. Trump recently called Harris the “tax queen.” She wants to raise the corporate tax rate from 21% to 28% and tax the unrealized capital gains of people worth more than $100 million. She would use revenue from that and other policies to preserve middle-class tax cuts that expire after 2025 and provide new tax breaks to parents and entrepreneurs. Many of her policies build on ideas initially proposed by President Joe Biden.

Trump claims her tax increases would eventually trickle down to the middle class.

“She’s coming to get your money,” he told an audience on Monday. “She’s coming for your retirement, 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” because it could raise the cost of coffee, clothing, electronics, cars and almost anything that is imported or relies on imported parts. Her campaign likes to cite an analysis from Brendan Duke of the Center for American Progress, which estimated that a 20% universal rate would cost an average family nearly $4,000 a year. For taxpayers in the middle-income bracket, that amount would effectively increase their total federal taxes by 50%, according to calculations based on Data from the Ministry of Finance.

During a speech in Georgia on Tuesday, Trump singled out the word “tariff” in praise, calling it “one of the most beautiful words I’ve ever heard.” He said it would raise hundreds of billions in tax revenue and not cause inflation.

Most economic analyzes say broad tariffs would worsen inflation. Investment bank Goldman Sachs suggested the tariffs, combined with a crackdown on immigrants in the United States, would hurt growth.

Harris has worked to make the middle class a top priority, often speaking about her own middle-class background to suggest that her ideas emerged from a personal journey.

But on Sunday, at an event in New York City, she also made a pitch aimed at companies that want less drama in their dealings with the government.

“We will create a stable business environment with consistent and transparent rules of the road,” Harris said. “We will invest in semiconductors, clean energy and other industries of the future. And we will cut unnecessary bureaucracy and unnecessary red tape, all of which will create jobs, stimulate broad-based economic growth, and strengthen American leadership around the world.”