Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, debating for the first time Tuesday night, immediately tangled over trade policy and Trump’s proposal to impose across-the-board tariffs on U.S. imports.
Harris, suggesting such tariffs would drive up the cost of living, referred to the tariffs as a “sales tax, which would be a 20% tax on everyday goods that you rely on to get through the month.” Inflation is a major problem facing Harris and other Democratic candidates in this fall’s election.
“Economists have said that Trump sales tax would actually result for middle class families in about $4,000 more a year, because of his policies and his ideas about what should be the backs of middle-class people paying for tax cuts for billionaires,” Harris added.
Trump responded, “I have no sales tax. That’s an incorrect statement.”
He suggested, as he has in the past, that tariffs are paid by the exporting countries. Tariffs are actually paid by importers.
“She knows that we're doing tariffs on other countries,” Trump said. “Other countries are going to finally, after 75 years, pay us back for all that we've done for the world, and the tariff will be substantial in some cases.”
He said his tariffs took in “billions and billions and dollars from China.” He noted that President Joe Biden has left in place the tariffs on China, but didn’t mention that Biden has actually increased tariffs on some Chinese exports. “They never took the tariff off, because it was so much money they can't. It would totally destroy everything that they've set out to do,” Trump said.
Later, Trump was pressed by ABC News moderate David Muir on possibility that the higher tariffs could raise prices paid by consumers. “Do you believe Americans can afford higher prices because of tariffs?” Muir asked.
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“They’re not going to have higher prices. … Who's going to have higher prices is China and all of the countries that have been ripping us off for years.”
Then, pressing his point that Biden hadn’t repealed the tariffs on China, Trump said, “If she doesn't like them, they should have gone out, and they should have immediately cut the tariffs.”
Harris didn’t address a follow-up question as to why Biden didn’t remove Trump’s tariffs on China.
Trump repeatedly brought up the immigration issue, at one point suggesting the Biden administration was allowing people into the country illegally so they could vote. However, he dodged a question about how he would carry out the mass deportations he has promised.
Toward the end of the debate, both candidates were asked about climate change.
“The former president has said the climate change is a hoax, and what we know is that it is very real,” Harris said, touting the Biden administration’s spending on clean energy.
Trump didn’t address the issue, pivoting to concerns about manufacturing jobs leaving the country.
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