Kamala Harris set to outline ‘pragmatic’ and ‘capitalist’ economic philosophy

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Kamala Harris will lay out her “pragmatic” economic philosophy as a “capitalist” on Wednesday, pushing back on critics with a speech stressing her “middle class” values as she and Donald Trump clash over the trade and tax policy.

A senior campaign official said Harris would use a speech at the Economic Club of Pittsburgh, in the swing state of Pennsylvania, to draw a sharp contrast with Trump, her Republican rival in the White House race.

Harris would “speak at length about her economic philosophy, how it guides her vision and plans for protecting and expanding the middle class as president, and how that vision represents a fundamental contrast to Donald Trump’s economic philosophy and approach”, the official said.

“She will describe her economic philosophy as ‘pragmatic,’ stressing that she will pursue practical, realistic solutions,” the aide added.

Wednesday’s speech will mark Harris’s fourth visit to Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania — potentially the most important state in her bid to succeed Joe Biden as president — since she launched her campaign in July.

Harris has been under mounting pressure to spell out her economic agenda and articulate in far greater detail where she might differ from Biden.

The vice-president’s speech will come a day after Trump outlined his own plan for a “new American industrialism” and warned trading partners that he would lure jobs and manufacturers away from them to the US. The Republican candidate has touted a protectionist economic strategy, sweeping tax cuts and high tariffs.

Harris has proposed raising the corporate tax rate to 28 per cent from 21 per cent, as well as efforts to boost housing supply. She has also proposed more tax breaks for families with children and first-time homebuyers.

However, her plans to crack down on price-gouging in the grocery sector have drawn criticism from economists across the political spectrum who warned the proposals could lead to damaging market distortions.

The Harris campaign official said the vice-president would say that while she had spent her entire career in the public sector — as a prosecutor in San Francisco before becoming attorney-general of California and later elected to the US Senate — she considered herself a “capitalist” who “understands the limitations of government”.

The economy has been a political weakness for Biden and Harris after inflation hit multi-decade highs in 2022. Just 17 per cent of registered voters in the most recent Financial Times-University of Michigan Ross School of Business poll said they were financially better off since Biden became president.

But inflation has cooled and the labour market has remained strong in recent months, and there are signs that voters are growing more favourable to Harris on the economy.

The latest FT-Michigan Ross poll found 44 per cent of voters said they trusted Harris on her handling of the economy, compared with 42 per cent who put their faith in Trump.