Key points in US presidential candidate Kamala Harris' economic agenda

Vice President Harris plans to lay out some details of her economic plan in a speech in North Carolina on August 16. She will mention cost reductions and “unreasonable price increases,” signaling the importance of consumer prices to American voters in the November 5 election.

Inflation fell below 3% in July for the first time in nearly 3.5 years, but prices for food and consumer goods remain far higher than pre-pandemic levels, the US Labor Department said.

The economy remains the top concern of American voters, who generally see Republicans as better economic managers.

Ms. Harris’s economic agenda closely resembles President Joe Biden’s and is aimed at appealing to the middle class. Advisers say her campaign will pay particular attention to what works with voters in battleground states, with less than 90 days until the presidential election.

“Same values, different vision,” an aide said, describing the differences between Harris’s economic agenda and Biden’s. “She’s not different from him in terms of substance, but she’ll emphasize the points that are most important to her,” the aide said.

Ms Harris' campaign declined to comment.

Mr Trump's campaign has considered new tax cuts for middle-class households, and Mr Trump has proposed eliminating the payroll tax — something Ms Harris also did in Las Vegas last week.

Ms. Harris is very concerned about "financial issues for working families, especially those with young children," an adviser to Ms. Harris told Reuters. She is a supporter of the child tax credit, which reduces the tax burden for low-income families.

“She will continue that,” the adviser said.

Progressive economic ideas often find support among voters, but they are often difficult to pass into law. Most of Harris and Trump’s economic priorities require congressional approval. A child tax credit bill passed the House but stalled in the Senate this year.

Not all elements of Ms. Harris’s economic agenda will appear in her Aug. 16 speech, and the draft of the speech is still being finalized.

Her campaign wants to avoid dividing voters and drawing criticism from business groups over specifics, and will be "strategically vague" in areas like energy.

Ms. Harris no longer supports measures from her short-lived 2020 presidential campaign, such as banning shale gas fracking or Medicare for All, advisers say.

She will push for plans to reduce the cost of renting and buying a home, including funding more affordable housing and building climate-resilient communities.

“She is very passionate about housing because we know, and she knows very well, that housing is a crisis in this country,” said Marcia Fudge, an adviser to Ms. Harris and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under Mr. Biden.

Harris will also contrast with Trump on tax and tariff policy, and keep Biden’s promise not to raise taxes on people earning less than $400,000 a year, advisers say. Trump cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% and implemented other tax cuts that are set to expire next year.

Mr. Trump has promised to make the tax cuts permanent and proposed new tariffs on imports, an idea Ms. Harris rejected. Mr. Trump’s campaign on August 14 tied Ms. Harris to Mr. Biden’s economic record.

“America cannot afford four more years of Kamala’s failed economic policies. President Trump has a proven track record of making this country prosperous and affordable, and Americans can trust him to put more money back in their pockets,” Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said.