But the main thrust of Harris’ vision is clear: a mixture of government intervention and government assistance, all meant to help Americans climb their way into the middle class.

As Gene Sperling, a former economic aide to three Democratic presidents who is a senior economic adviser to Harris, put it: “Her focus on an opportunity economy and her stress on homeownership show she is focused like a laser on both lowering costs to help families make ends meet and being able to get ahead by owning a home or starting a small business.”

Trump’s pitch is simpler: He says that he made America rich the first time he was in the White House and that he would do it again. He also blames Harris and Biden for a surge in inflation under their administration.

“I gave Harris and Biden an economic miracle, and they quickly turned it into an economic nightmare,” he said in Asheville on Wednesday, omitting the job and income losses of the 2020 pandemic recession on his watch.

Like Harris, though, Trump offered a string of pledges on how he would wield government power to intervene in markets and help consumers. He said he would direct his cabinet to somehow bring down the cost of car insurance in the first 100 days of his presidency or possibly even the first week. He said he would cut energy prices in half.

Trump and Harris each sought to cast the other’s philosophy of federal power as a threat to the economy and working families.

He said he would deport millions of immigrants to bring housing prices down.

Trump also ratcheted up a promise to impose new taxes on imported goods – from every country the United States trades with – in a bid to force more companies to make products in America. Previously, Trump said he would tax imports at a 10 per cent rate; in Asheville, he said the rate could be as high as 20 per cent. Those tariffs are paid by US importers, not foreign countries. Economic research suggests they would, to some degree, raise prices and serve as a tax on consumers.

This, too, is a clear vision of federal power reshaping the economy. It is a foundation of Trump’s economic agenda and, in many cases, a break from the conservative economic orthodoxy that long dominated the Republican Party.

But Trump has not abandoned all of that tradition. He pledged to continue cutting taxes, including extending cuts for individuals that he signed in a 2017 tax overhaul and eliminating federal income taxes on Social Security benefits and tip income. He also promised to roll back federal regulations of business, including environmental regulations and restrictions on oil drilling on some public lands.

An analysis based on reports from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget suggests that Trump’s tax cuts could add $US7 trillion to the deficit over a decade, only some of which would be offset by tariffs or a repeal of tax breaks signed by Biden. Economists warn that higher deficits could stoke more inflation. Trump aides say his agenda will lower prices.

“If you were to cut taxes, deregulate the economy, produce more energy – all of those policies are deflationary, not inflationary,” Stephen Moore, a co-founder of the conservative Committee to Unleash Prosperity and a policy adviser to Trump, told reporters on Friday.

In North Carolina, Trump and Harris each sought to cast the other’s philosophy of federal power as a threat to the economy and working families.

Trump warned that Harris would cause a 1929-style stock crash if elected. Harris said Trump’s tariffs would amount to “a Trump tax on gas, a Trump tax on food, a Trump tax on clothing, a Trump tax on over-the-counter medication.”

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There was little overlap in the speeches. Harris pledged a small amount of deregulation, saying she would cut “red tape” to speed housing construction. Both candidates spoke highly of Medicare.

Harris had said in recent days that, like Trump, she supports exempting some tipped income from federal taxes. In Raleigh, she did not mention that particular source of agreement.

The New York Times