Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris sat down for an interview with MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle on Sept. 25 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—one of the most crucial states for winning the electoral college.
The discussion was Harris’s first one-on-one network interview since she launched her candidacy on July 21. Previously, she appeared on CNN with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and spoke with an ABC affiliate and a Hispanic radio network, among others. While she often sticks to many of the same talking points reflected in her campaign speeches, her sitdown with Ruhle went the furthest into exploring her policy agenda, while clarifying some of her positions on the economy and immigration.
1. Harris’s Economic Policies
Harris reiterated her intention to raise the corporate tax rate and said, “It is not right that the teachers and the firefighters that I meet every day across our country are paying a higher tax than the richest people in our country,” as some corporations pay varying taxes after claiming deductions.Ruhle countered by asking how Harris would balance that effort with preventing those same companies from leaving the country with higher tax rates.
“Part of my plan for the economy is investing in new industries in a way that we have active partnership with the private sector,” Harris said, while suggesting that many top CEOs agree with her position that “people should pay their fair share” of taxes.
She said she would invest in the middle class, new industries, and small businesses.
“This is not about bilking anybody, but it is certainly about saying, ‘Let’s make sure that we create opportunities for everyone to grow wealth.’ I believe that it is not sufficient, and it should not be our goal to just make sure everyone is working. That should be the baseline, that should be a given,” Harris added.
Trump has said he would make permanent the provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which lowered the corporate tax rate to 21 percent. He has also promised to lower the rate to 15 percent for companies that operate and manufacture products within the United States.
While speaking at the Economic Club of New York earlier this month, Trump criticized Harris’s tax plan.
2. Harris Criticizes Trump’s Tariff Proposals
During Trump’s stop in Pennsylvania on Monday, he promised to impose a 200 percent tariff on American tractor manufacturer John Deere if the company shifts production to a planned plant in Ramos, Mexico.“If you do that, we’re putting a 200 percent tariff on everything you want to sell in the United States,” Trump said.
Harris suggested Trump “made a whole lot of promises” ahead of his 2016 election win, and added his pledge to impose “hundreds of percent tariffs” on John Deere to that list.
Harris has also sharply criticized Trump’s proposed 20 percent tariffs on products imported into the U.S., including upwards of 60 percent on Chinese exports. She has repeatedly called them a “sales tax on the American people” due to their effect on increasing prices, particularly on everyday goods that are imported from overseas.
Trump has defended his tariff proposals as a way to keep manufacturing in the United States. Many companies have not only outsourced overseas since the onset of the North American Free Trade Agreement—which lifted tariffs on certain goods—but also across the southern border into Mexico. He has maintained that the tariffs are a tax on the exporting country and that they will not lead to price increases for Americans.
Ruhl countered that Biden had kept many of Trump’s previous tariffs and pushed for creating more. She asked Harris if there was a good tariff versus a bad tariff.
The vice president did not directly answer the question and instead suggested that Trump isn’t being serious with his tariff proposals before touting her $50,000 small business tax deduction plan.
3. Harris Defends Position on US Steel Sale
Ruhl asked Harris about her and Biden’s opposition to Japanese steelmaker Nippon Steel acquiring U.S. Steel, which is based in Pittsburgh, after the American company warned earlier this month that it might have to move its headquarters and cut its staff if the sale falls through.Nippon Steel had announced it would complete a purchase of U.S. Steel in December. Trump and Biden have both said the acquisition could negatively affect national security and domestic industrial capacity.
“It’s most important that we maintain America’s ability to have American manufacturing by steel by American workers for a number of reasons,” Harris said. “There is not a new industry that I can imagine that is not going to require steel.”
4. Harris Defends Price Gouging Remarks
Harris has turned to banning price gouging as a means of lowering prices after Americans saw massive inflation after early 2021, which has begun cooling over the past year.Ruhl asked her how she would go after price gouging without creating price controls.
The vice president said that her remarks apply only to a “few companies, not the majority, not most” and that she would “go after them” as president, which could involve the Justice Department.
“That is part of a much more comprehensive plan on what we can do to bring down the cost of living, including housing, including the everyday needs of the American people,” she said.
5. Walz Was a ‘Gut Decision’
After she was asked about the last time she made a gut decision—which Ruhl said was important for those occupying the presidency—Harris replied that picking Walz as her running mate was the most recent example.“Probably the biggest gut decision I’ve made, most recently is to choose my running mate. There were lots of good, incredible candidates, and ultimately that came down to a gut decision,” Harris said.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was reportedly the other finalist in Harris’s veepstakes. Other names that were floated include Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
