2024 US election: What are Harris and Trump’s positions on key issues? | 2024 US Election News

Here are the presidential candidates’ positions on the economy, immigration, foreign policy and more.

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have spent months expressing their differing views on the United States.

The candidates for the presidency, representing the Democratic and Republican parties, respectively, differ on many policies promoted to solve the country’s problems while agreeing on others.

Al Jazeera takes a closer look at their campaign platforms and offers a comparison of their positions on key issues facing the US.

Economy and Production

Kamala Harris:

• Cut taxes for “more than 100 million working and middle-class Americans” by reinstating the Child Tax Credits and Earned Tax Credits
• Increase the long-term capital gains tax from 20 percent to 28 percent, and the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent
• Government ban on increasing food and grocery prices
• Focus on Harris’ ‘Economic Opportunity Agenda’, a campaign he describes as “a plan to help small businesses and entrepreneurs innovate and grow”
• A goal of 25 million new business applications in his first term by raising the tax on start-up costs from $5,000 to $50,000.
• Resist “unfair trade practices” from China and any other country that “undermines American workers”
• Ensure that the US is a leader in the “industries of the future”, such as semiconductors, clean energy and artificial intelligence.

Donald Trump:

• End inflation
• Lower the corporate tax rate to 15 percent
• It could consider greatly increasing the child tax credit
• Reduce government spending
• The US becomes the world’s largest energy producer “by far”, and lowers energy costs
• Bring supply chains to the US, stop outsourcing, turn the US into a “manufacturing superpower”
• Ban the import of cars made in China and protect the US auto industry
• Nativist economic policy – “Buy American, hire American”
• Raise taxes on imported goods, while lowering taxes

Immigration to another country

Harris:

• It says the immigration system is “broken”, and needs “total reform”
• He supports a border security bill that would increase detection technology to stop drugs
• Add 1,500 border security agents
• Provide an “earned path to citizenship”
• Increase legal immigration by increasing the number of work-based and family-based visas

Trump:

• Remove millions of undocumented immigrants in “the largest deportation operation in American history” using the military and the National Guard.
• “Close the border and stop the immigration” by deploying troops on the US-Mexico border and building detention centers there, replace ‘Stay in Mexico’, forcing asylum seekers to stay in Mexico until their immigration court cases are resolved.
• End birthright citizenship for children of undocumented parents
• Enforce immigration screening
• Green cards are proposed automatically for foreign students of US universities
• He blames immigrants for rising housing, education and health care costs

Houses

Harris:

• Build three million affordable homes
• Reduce regulations to speed up building of homes
• They punish companies that hoard homes and raise prices
• Offer first-time home buyers up to $25,000 in down payments

Trump:

• Lower your mortgage rates by lowering your liquidity
• Open a specific area of ​​the home building organization
• Reduce housing costs by reducing the number of immigrants, who Trump blames for rising prices

Workers’ rights

Harris:

• Sign pro-union laws like the Protection of the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act), which would limit employers’ ability to disrupt unions, and protect striking workers.
• Eliminate taxes on service tips and hospitality workers
• Fight to raise the minimum wage and end the minimum wage for tipped workers

Trump:

• Tax cuts for employees and no tax on tips
• Finish taxes with overtime pay
• Both Trump and his running mate JD Vance reject the PRO Act, Trump has floated the idea of ​​firing striking workers.

Foreign policy

Harris:

• Protect US forces and interests “from Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups”, and ensure that Iran never becomes a nuclear power.
• Back “Israel’s right to self-defense”, and confirm that Israel has the ability to do so, rejecting the arms embargo.
• The mission to end the war in Gaza, “allow the Palestinians to realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination”
• Stay ahead of China and blame it for human rights violations, while supporting “Taiwan’s ability to defend itself”. He opposes exiting economic relations with China, instead focusing on “protecting American interests”
• Support Ukraine against Russia “as long as it takes”

Trump:

• “Peace with power” that will prevent “World War III”
• Focus on the Chinese threat and “protect the strategic independence” of China while withdrawing Beijing’s “most favored nation” status. Trump also said he wanted a “good relationship” with China and praised President Xi Jinping, saying Taiwan should pay for US protection.
• Stand with Israel, seek peace in the Middle East
• End the war in Ukraine, no commitment of further aid for Ukraine against Russia

Crime and Justice

Harris:

• Ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, while requiring more background checks and supporting red flag laws that prevent guns from getting into the hands of “dangerous people”
• Invest in law enforcement
• End the opioid epidemic
• There is no immunity for the president for crimes committed while in office
• Reforms to the Supreme Court, including requiring Judges to adhere to rules of conduct and imposing term limits

Trump:

• Stop the “immigrant crime epidemic”
• Defeat foreign drug cartels and end gang violence, seek the death penalty for drug dealers
• Give police officers immunity from prosecution
• Rehabilitation is supported for non-violent offenders in line with the criminal justice reform legislation passed during his presidency.

The environment

Harris:

• It builds on the Inflation Reduction Act, which included green initiatives designed to address climate change
• Continue US global leadership on climate
• “Fight for the freedom to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live free from the pollution that fuels the climate”

Trump:

• Withdraw from the 2015 Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Cancel the authorization of the electric vehicle
• Eliminate environmental regulations, such as restrictions on fossil fuel production, that are considered “burdensome”
• Push back against the Deflation Act
• Push for nuclear power

Education

Harris:

• Ensuring access to childcare and preschool for children
• End the “unreasonable burden of student loan debt” and make higher education more accessible
• Resist private school vouchers and tuition tax credits

Trump:

• Close the Department of Education, make the states responsible for education
• He suggested giving families money to pay for private school tuition and home schooling
• Reduce government funding for schools that promote “critical race theory” and “strong sexism”
• Get rid of “pro-Hamas radicals”, make “college colleges safe and patriotic again”

Abortion

Harris:

• Prevent a national abortion ban from becoming law
• It will sign any bill passed by Congress that restores the legalization of abortion nationwide

Trump:

• He says abortion is a federal issue, and he said he would not sign a law banning abortions nationwide, but he did not say whether he would veto the law passed by Congress.

Health care

Harris:

• Lower prescription drug costs, extend $35 cap on insulin to all Americans
• Strengthen the Affordable Care Act, and reduce health care premiums
• Work with states to cancel medical debt for more people
• Guaranteed right to in-vitro fertilization (IVF), warned against some Republican attempts to limit it

Trump:

• He says he is “looking at alternatives” to the Affordable Care Act, which he calls too expensive
• Supports increased access to IVF
• Could “maybe” disband the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, calling it a “costly solution”

Election rules

Harris:

• Pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and Voting Freedom Acts, which would protect voting rights and expand mail-in voting and early voting.

Trump:

• It reinforces the false narrative that the 2020 election is being stolen
• Applications for same-day voting, voter identification, ballot papers and proof of citizenship