Grocery prices and Trump's tariffs: The economic themes to expect at this week's DNC convention

08/19/2024 18:48
Grocery prices and Trump's tariffs: The economic themes to expect at this week's DNC convention

The economy will be a paramount issue this week as Democrats gather in Chicago to fully anoint Kamala Harris as their nominee.

The economy will be a paramount issue this week as Democrats gather in Chicago to fully anoint Kamala Harris as their nominee just weeks after President Joe Biden dropped his own bid for the Presidency.

Harris told reporters Sunday that much of her convention speech scheduled for Thursday has already been written with only tweaks remaining.

It will be "much of what you’ve heard me talk about before in terms of what I believe to be the promise of America," she added during a bus tour of the commonwealth where the economy was an oft-discussed topic.

The convention follows last week’s release of Harris’s cost of living plan that focused on housing costs, drug prices and grocery store prices and an heated back and forth on the economy with GOP nominee Donald Trump that continued through this past weekend.

The days ahead will feature plenty more from both Democrats as well as from Trump, who will be traveling all week starting with a Monday schedule that his campaign promises will be focused on making "America Wealthy Again."

TOPSHOT - Signage is pictured as preparations are made ahead of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois on August 15, 2024. Vice President Kamala Harris will formally accept the party's nomination for president at the DNC which runs from August 19-22 in Chicago. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP) (Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)

Preparations are made ahead of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago. (ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images) (ROBYN BECK via Getty Images)

Harris is still being defined on the economy. A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released Sunday found that while 72 percent of Americans rate the economy poorly, they are giving Harris some leeway on it.

More than 6 in 10 respondents think she's had "limited influence on the administration's economic policies."

Here's some of the economic themes to watch as Democrats gather with just 78 days until election day.

A populist economic message from Dems

There will likely be an attempt by speakers this week — the list includes President Joe Biden, Michelle Obama as well as both Harris and Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz — to continue focusing on specific "kitchen table" issues over broad economic themes.

It's a tactic that reflects polling that has repeatedly shown voters are focused on prices and personal economic concerns above all else.

"The golden rule is stay away from anything macro that is about other people's lives and bring everything to a micro family budget level," said Adam Green, a Harris supporter and co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.

Green has overseen a range of polling in this area and often briefs the Harris campaign on his results.

"I do think that as you watch the convention, there will hopefully be a through line of economic populism fighting for the little guy," he added.

TOPSHOT - US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (L) speaks as her running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz looks on during a stop on their campaign bus tour in Rochester, Pennsylvania, on August 18, 2024. Harris embarked on a bus tour of the potentially election-deciding state of Pennsylvania on Sunday, as she keeps up the momentum before her star turn at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)

Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks as her running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz looks on during a stop on their campaign bus tour in Rochester, Pa., on Sunday. (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images) (ANGELA WEISS via Getty Images)

Much of that strategy has already been in evidence from Harris with the release of a cost of living plan last week focused on housing costs and grocery store prices.

The plan includes ideas like expanding the child tax credit to $6,000 for the first year of a child's life to a first-time homebuyer credit of $25,000.

Harris was also pressed Sunday on how she would pay for her plan — which is estimated to cost about $1.7 trillion — and said that increases in home ownership and in strengthened communities would represent a return on investment.

"Everybody benefits and it pays for itself in that way," she said.

A Harris campaign spokesperson followed up to add that Harris supported other methods to directly raise the revenue that President Biden has previously proposed, including increasing taxes on billionaires and large corporations.

Another plank of last week's plan was what the campaign called a federal ban on price gouging in grocery stores. What voters think of that idea remains to be seen, but the Trump campaign immediately seized on it and compared it to Soviet-style price controls.

"Comrade Kamala" has become the latest nickname that the Trump campaign is trying to affix to the Democratic nominee.

TOPSHOT - Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures as he speaks during a campaign rally at Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, August 17, 2024. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Former president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., on Saturday. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images) (JIM WATSON via Getty Images)

President Joe Biden will be the keynote speaker Monday night where he will also focus, according to the Harris//Walz campaign, on his work helping to build "the strongest economy in the world."

His overall speech is expected to focus more closely on the theme of defending democracy.

A focus on Trump specifically on his tariffs

The week is also set to feature a broad array of attacks on Trump's tariff ambitions, specifically a comment last week where the former President suggested he wanted tariff rates of 10 to 20% on America's trading partners.

"He wants to impose what is, in effect, a national sales tax on everyday products and basic necessities that we import from other countries," Harris said Friday, adding that the "plan would cost a typical family $3,900 a year."

That figure comes from an estimate made by Brendan Duke of the left-leaning Center for American Progress that found 10% tariffs (combined with Trump's other promise of a 60% tariff on Chinese goods) could add $2,500 annually to household budgets while a 20% tariffs could net out to a $3,900 tab.

Trump responded to the emerging Democratic attack during a rally Saturday in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., where he defended his tariff plan at length and said "a tariff is a tax on a foreign country and that's the way it is whether you like it or not."

"It is a tax on a country that is ripping us off and stealing our jobs and it is a tax that doesn't affect our country," he added.

In fact, tariffs are assessed on companies as they bring in goods at ports of entry into the United States.

They can have a significant effect on US consumers. Who pays the costs of tariffs in the end can be mixed, but economists often say the bulk of those costs are borne by consumers in the US in the form of increased prices.

TOPSHOT - A Chicago police officer takes a picture of people posing before a mural of Democratic presidential nominee US Vice President Kamala Harris outside the United Center ahead of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, Illinois on August 17, 2024. The mural, created by Ian Robertson and Salt and Pique Brown, was commissioned by Emily's List in 2020.
Vice President Kamala Harris will formally accept the party's nomination for president at the DNC which runs from August 19-22 in Chicago. (Photo by Charly TRIBALLEAU / AFP) (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)

A Chicago police officer takes a picture of people posing before a mural of Vice President Kamala Harris outside the United Center ahead of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago. (CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images) (CHARLY TRIBALLEAU via Getty Images)

The DNC is also set to lean into social media influencers with what organizers are terming a "blue carpet." It appears set to be a spin room of sorts where high-ranking Democratic officials can appear and mingle with creators and reporters.

The convention is also set to include a series of economic-focused events on the sidelines in what organizers are calling "DemPalooza" including labor and small business meetings as well as gathering from outside groups trying to shape the Democrat's economic agenda.

One event is called "a toast to a New Economy" featuring top Democratic officials and some outside business-world supporters.

"The real and true measure of the strength of a leader is who you lift up," Harris told supporters during a stop Sunday on her bus tour, adding "that's what we see as strength."

Ben Werschkul is Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.

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