Trump, Harris tout visions for US economy during Michigan campaign stops
Polling indicates the presidential race in Michigan and other political battleground states remains a toss-up.
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024 in Walker, Mich.
The latest polling continues to show a statistical dead-heat in the presidential race across political battleground states like Michigan.
Surveys also reveal the chief concern for most voters remains the state of the economy and the high cost of living.
Both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have each touted their vision for the economy during recent campaign stops in Michigan.
At a town hall in Warren last Friday, former Trump claimed he would use a combination of tariffs and corporate tax breaks to protect U.S. jobs.
“You have to elect a person with business talent and common sense, and this whole thing is going to turn around very quickly,” Trump said.
Trump also made a stop at FALK, a manufacturing company in West Michigan, to promote his economic recovery plan. Harris counters that Trump’s tax plan could push the economy towards a recession.
At a recent town hall in Oakland County with Oprah Winfrey, Harris said she will work to stop what she calls “price gouging” by companies, and provide loans for small business start-ups and first-time home buyers.
One of the signature accomplishments of Trump’s term was the U.S. Mexico-Canada trade agreement that replaced NAFTA — a deal United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain says is bad for autoworkers.
“Donald Trump wants to spin this that he fixed NAFTA. He didn’t fix anything. He made it worse,” Fain said. “The deficits and the trade imbalance grew worse under Trump’s NAFTA.”
A report by the U.S. Department of Commerce showed that the yearly trade deficit increased by about $200 billion from 2016 to 2020.
In a statement released last Thursday, Harris said she wanted a full review of the deal when it comes up in 2026.
Drumming up union support
Winning over auto workers — and union members — has been a top priority for both Harris and Trump during the 2024 election cycle.
Many unions — including the United Auto Workers — have endorsed Harris, though strong support for Trump by the Teamsters’ rank-and-file likely led to the leadership deciding not to make an endorsement. The inaction has been celebrated as a win for the Trump campaign.
Trump — and other Republicans — have referred to federal environmental rules surrounding fuel economy standards as an “electric vehicle mandate”.
That’s something that rankles Michigan U.S. Senator Gary Peters.
“Well, let’s be clear, there’s not a mandate on electric vehicles. People will be free to choose the vehicles that they would like, but we also have to make electric vehicles because we are in global competition for the next generation of vehicles and the future of the auto industry, which is electric,” Peters said.
A study from J.D. Power and Associates found EV sales make up about 9% of all new cars and trucks sold in the U.S.
And a recent report from NPR showed that the Americans who are most skeptical about the environmental benefits of EVs, also tend to be the people who worry the least about the climate.
Trump has stated that EVs will kill the American auto industry — though he did soften his stance a bit after being supported by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. During Friday’s town hall event, Trump vowed to increase the use of oil and gas reserves and levy heavy tariffs on foreign products to help drive energy costs down.
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