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

EXPLAINER

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

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have spent months pitching their different visions for the United States.

The presidential candidates, representing the Democratic and Republican parties, respectively, diverge on most of the policies advocated to solve the country’s problems while only agreeing on some.

Al Jazeera has taken a closer look at their campaign platforms and promises to compare their positions on the key issues facing the US.

Economy and Manufacturing

Kamala Harris:

• Cut taxes for “more than 100 million working and middle-class Americans” by restoring Child Tax Credits and Earned Income Tax Credits
• Increase long-term capital gains tax from 20 percent to 28 percent, and corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent
• Federal ban on price gouging on food and groceries
• Focus on Harris’s ‘Opportunity Economy Agenda’, which the campaign frames as a “plan to help small businesses and entrepreneurs innovate and grow”
• A goal of 25 million new business applications in her first term by raising startup expense tax deduction from $5,000 to $50,000
• Resist “unfair trade practices” from China or any other country “that undermines American workers”
• Ensure the US is a leader in the “industries of the future”, such as semiconductors, clean energy and artificial intelligence

Donald Trump:

• End inflation
• Cut corporate tax rate to 15 percent
• Would consider significantly increasing the child tax credit
• Cut government spending
• US becomes the biggest energy producer in the world “by far”, and brings down the cost of energy
• Bring supply chains to the US, stop outsourcing, turn the US into a “manufacturing superpower”
• Prevent the importing of Chinese-made vehicles and protecting the US automobile industry
• Nativist economic policy – “Buy American, hire American”
• Increase tariffs on foreign-made goods, while bringing down taxes

Immigration

Harris:

• Says immigration system is “broken”, and needs “comprehensive reform”
• Supports border security bill that would increase detection technology to intercept drugs
• Add 1,500 border security agents
• Provide an “earned pathway to citizenship”
• Increase legal immigration by increasing the number of employment-based and family visas

Trump:

• Deport millions of undocumented migrants in the “largest deportation operation in American history” using military and National Guard
• “Seal the border and stop the migrant invasion” by using military troops on the US-Mexico border and constructing detention facilities there, reinstate ‘Remain in Mexico’, which forces asylum-seekers to stay in Mexico until their immigration court cases have been resolved
• End birthright citizenship for children of undocumented parents
• Impose ideological screening of immigrants
• Proposed automatic green cards for foreign graduates of US universities
• Blames immigration for rising housing, education and healthcare costs

Housing

Harris:

• Build three million affordable homes
• Reduce regulations to make it faster to build homes
• Penalise companies that hoard homes and drive prices up
• Provide first-time homebuyers with up to $25,000 for downpayments

Trump:

• Reduce mortgage rates by bringing down inflation
• Open up some federal land for homebuilding
• Reduce housing costs by reducing the number of immigrants, who Trump blames for rising prices

Workers’ rights

Harris:

• Sign pro-union legislation such as the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act), which would limit the power of employers to interfere in trade unions, as well as protecting striking workers
• End taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers
• Fight to raise the minimum wage and end sub-minimum wages for tipped workers

Trump:

• Tax cuts for workers and no taxes on tips
• End taxes on overtime pay
• Both Trump and running mate JD Vance reject the PRO Act, Trump has floated the idea of firing workers who are on strike

Foreign policy

Harris:

• Protect US forces and interests “from Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups”, and ensure Iran never becomes a nuclear power
• Back Israel’s “right to defend itself”, and ensure Israel has the ability to do so, rejecting the arms embargo
• Work to end the war in Gaza, “allow Palestinians to realise their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination”
• Stay ahead of China and hold it responsible for human rights violations, while supporting “Taiwan’s ability to defend itself”. Opposes pulling out of an economic relationship with China, instead focusing on “protecting American interests”
• Support Ukraine against Russia for “as long as it takes”

Trump:

• “Peace through strength” that will “prevent World War Three”
• Focus on the threat of China and “secure strategic independence” from China while revoking Beijing’s “most favoured nation” status. Trump has also said that he wants a “good relationship” with China and has 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 for additional 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 opioid epidemic
• No presidential immunity for crimes committed while in office
• Supreme Court reforms, including requiring Justices to comply with ethics rules and imposing term limits

Trump:

• Stop the “migrant crime epidemic”
• Defeat foreign drug cartels and end gang violence, called for the death penalty for drug dealers
• Provide police with immunity from prosecution
• Supported rehabilitation for nonviolent offenders in line with criminal justice reform law passed during his presidency

Environment

Harris:

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

Trump:

• Withdraw from the 2015 Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Cancel electric vehicle mandates
• Remove environmental regulations, such as restrictions on fossil fuel production, deemed “burdensome”
• Push back against the Inflation Reduction Act
• Push for nuclear energy

Education

Harris:

• Ensure affordability of childcare and preschool for children
• End the “unreasonable burden of student loan debt” and make higher education more affordable
• Oppose private school vouchers and tuition tax credits

Trump:

• Close the Department of Education, make the states responsible for education
• Has proposed giving money to families to spend on private school tuition and homeschooling
• Cut federal funding for schools pushing “critical race theory” and “radical gender ideology”
• Deport “pro-Hamas radicals”, make “college campuses safe and patriotic again”

Abortion

Harris:

• Prevent national abortion ban from becoming law
• Will sign any bill passed by Congress that restores the legality of abortion nationwide

Trump:

• Says abortion is a state-level issue, and has said he will not sign a national abortion ban, but did not say whether he would veto any law passed by Congress

Healthcare

Harris:

• Lower the cost of pharmaceutical drugs, extend $35 cap on insulin to all Americans
• Strengthen Affordable Care Act, and lower healthcare premiums
• Work with states to cancel medical debt for more people
• Guaranteed right to in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), warned against some Republican efforts to restrict it

Trump:

• Says he is “looking at alternatives” to the Affordable Care Act, which he calls too expensive
• Supports increased access to IVF
• Would “probably” disband the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, calling it “a very expensive solution”

Election laws

Harris:

• Pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Acts, which would enshrine voting rights protections and expand vote-by-mail and early voting

Trump:

• Emphasises false narrative that the 2020 election was stolen
• Calls for same-day voting, voter identification, paper ballots and proof of citizenship