Harris team warns executives Trump poses threat to economy while Trump says tariffs could boost growth | News, Sports, Vacancies

FILE – This photo combination shows Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, left, and Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris during the ABC News presidential debate at the National Constitution Center on Tuesday, Sept. 10 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Kamala Harris’ campaign is aggressively warning business leaders that Donald Trump has a pattern of disdain for democracy and the rule of law that could threaten U.S. economic growth, a closing argument meant to highlight the possible consequences for companies and workers if he returns to the White House. That’s a position Trump’s team rejects, telling voters prices will be lower and economic growth will be stronger than ever before if he wins Tuesday’s election. A billionaire who made his name in the real estate market, the former president advocated for higher tariffs to attract more factories to the United States, as well as tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations on the premise that this would lead to more investment. The competing positions come down to a fundamental difference between the two candidates on how to run the world’s largest economy: Harris’ team argues that the rule of law creates confidence that can help markets and workers prosper, while Trump argues that raising tariffs and cutting taxes is key to economic growth. Gene Sperling, who guided three Democratic presidents on economic policy and now advises the Harris campaign, has achieved what he calls “common sense” financiers and others about the dangers of a second Trump administration.
“A president who targets the people, the CEOs, the companies, the journalists and the opposition could have a devastating impact on investment confidence, which has been resilient over the last four years but has also been part of America’s strength since its founding.” Sperling said. But billionaire hedge fund investor John Paulson, a Trump supporter who sees himself as a possible Treasury secretary, rejects Harris’ campaign criticism, saying the world was more stable and inflation was lower under Trump.
“This is completely false” he said of Sperling’s argument that the rule of law is under threat. “When people make such statements, they are completely false. They are not based in reality. Trump is a brilliant businessman. He wants to cut wasteful spending and stimulate growth.”
Trump mocked his opponent’s approach to the economy as “silly” and said the stock market would crash if he lost the election, even though the S&P 500 stock index is up about 50% during President Joe Biden’s administration.
“We will give our companies the lowest taxes, lowest energy costs, lowest regulatory burden and easy access to the best and largest market on the planet,” Trump said this at a rally on Tuesday in Allentown, Pennsylvania. “The problem is if more of these idiots ran our country, you wouldn’t have a bigger and better market anymore because our nation is in decline.”
Harris’ team’s efforts include connecting the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol to the history of Trump, who used the platform to attack the Federal Reserve as well as companies such as Amazon, Merck, Comcast, John Deere and Toyota. Their argument is that companies are less likely to make long-term investments if democratic values ​​are under attack and election results are denied. In addition to Sperling, corporate executives heard from Robert Rubin, the former Treasury secretary; Kenneth Chenault, former CEO of American Express; and Brian Deese, former director of the National Economic Council under Biden. One person familiar with the conversations said Harris campaign officials aren’t having to press her hard on the issue. Seemingly apolitical executives are privately raising the issue as their top concern ahead of Trump’s presidency, with the person insisting on anonymity to describe private conversations with business leaders who want to stay out of the public eye. But Vanessa Williamson, a senior fellow on governance at the Brookings Institution, said the Harris campaign had somewhat underestimated the risks given the possible dangers.
“By and large, Americans have been able to take the basic rule of law for granted.” Williamson said. “The kind of rampant cronyism and fraud that characterizes some other countries is truly unimaginable here – which is, of course, great. But it also prevents people from realizing how important government is to the functioning of markets.”
Both campaigns are vying for support from the business community. Trump is supported by billionaire Elon Musk, owner of Tesla, SpaceX and X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. Billionaires such as Microsoft founder Bill Gates and billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban support Harris. Many of the disputes centered on political differences. Trump has said higher corporate tax rates advocated by Harris will deter investment, while Harris’ team has criticized his plans to end Biden-era incentives for building computer chips, electric vehicles and other advanced factories as wasteful jobs in the country. But the argument about the importance of democratic values ​​gained traction in October after the Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to three economists, Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson, who showed that social institutions and the rule of law are critical to the economy. height. Acemoglu was among 23 Nobel Prize-winning economists who signed a letter saying Trump’s economic plans would “will lead to higher prices, greater shortages and greater inequality.”
The letter said: “Among the most important determinants of economic success are the rule of law and economic and political certainty, and Trump threatens all of these.”
It’s a topic that has long interested Harris, the former California attorney general. Two people who work in the White House recall that Harris asked for economic studies in 2022 to support her understanding that the erosion of democratic standards would harm economic growth. The people insisted on anonymity to discuss the request. Likewise, Biden was the candidate, and White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients argued to executives at the Business Roundtable that Trump’s return to the presidency would create uncertainty that would hamper economic growth. It was a move that contrasted with Trump’s proposal for additional tax cuts for the group. Neither the Business Roundtable nor the U.S. Chamber of Commerce endorsed the November presidential election. The Business Roundtable has made keeping the corporate tax rate at its current level of 21% its top legislative priority. Trump has promised a further reduction in the corporate rate for US manufacturers, while Harris would like to raise it to 28%, although lower than the 35% rate in force before 2017. Meanwhile, the Chamber stressed its commitment to advocating for its corporate members, no matter what administration is in power. Business Roundtable CEO Josh Bolten said in a statement this month that the organization supports a peaceful transition of power. Trump has so far refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power after falsely claiming his 2020 defeat was the result of a fraudulent election, a claim that helped fuel the 2021 insurrection.
“Talking the election results may take time, and we urge all Americans to respect the processes set out in federal and state laws for determining election results and an orderly transition.” – said Bolten.