Harris team: Trump economic plan would ‘bring chaos,’ ‘send inflation skyrocketing’

Vice President Harris’s campaign early Monday warned against former President Trump’s economic plan ahead of his speech in Pennsylvania later in the day, saying it would “bring chaos.”

The Harris campaign is doubling down on hitting Trump over his economic agenda, arguing against his proposed tariffs and saying his plan would lead to potential tax increases.

“As they pledge to give more tax giveaways to the richest Americans and big corporations, their economic agenda will increase costs on everyday items, groceries, prescription drugs, housing, and health care for everyone else,” said Brian Nelson, Harris’s senior policy adviser, in a statement.

“Their reckless and backwards policies will bring chaos to economic markets, raise costs for working families, and send inflation skyrocketing. Vice President Harris and Governor Walz offer a stronger choice in this election: actual plans to lower costs, create opportunity, and protect the freedoms of the middle class,” he added.

Trump is set to visit a manufacturing plant in York City, Pa., to give an economic speech and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), will give a speech in Philadelphia.

“Before the pandemic, the Trump economy created 7 million new jobs, including 1.2 million manufacturing and construction jobs; median household incomes rose to their highest level ever; the poverty rate hit an all-time low; and the unemployment rate fell to a 50-year low,” Karoline Leavitt, Trump campaign national press secretary, said in a statement to The Hill responding to the Harris campaign’s remarks. “In just three years, Kamala Harris and Joe Biden’s out of control spending created the worst inflation crisis in [a] generation, and families are feeling it everywhere from their retirement savings to the grocery store. Investors and Americans across the country agree: the Kamalaconomy is just as bad as Bidenomics, and no one can afford another four years.”

The Republicans’ economic focus follows remarks from Harris on Friday, when she outlined her plan to create an “opportunity economy” with proposals like a federal ban on price gouging, a plan to end the housing shortage through the construction of new units and down-payment support to first-time homebuyers, and a plan to expand the child tax credit.

Trump levied tariffs against China during his first administration and has vowed to enact a 60-percent tariff on all Chinese products, a 100-percent tariff on cars made outside the U.S. and a 10-percent tariff on all foreign products across the board. 

The former president also has floated further cuts to the corporate tax rate after his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act lowered it to 21 percent. He has said he wants to make all “Trump tax cuts” permanent and bring the corporate tax rate down to 20 percent.

Additionally, the Trump campaign has bashed the Harris agenda, equating it to socialist policies implemented in countries such as Cuba and Venezuela and arguing it would not effectively reduce costs for consumers.

Updated at 10:37 a.m. EDT