During a lengthy news conference on Thursday, Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for president, attacked Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate for president, for wanting to stop companies from raising the prices of groceries and other food items.
Trump said, “They probably can’t do it legally, and that will make prices go up” when asked if the government should set food prices.
The Harris campaign said she will talk about the price-gouging ban on Friday when she gives a speech on economic policy in North Carolina, which is a swing state. However, the campaign hasn’t given many details about the plan yet.
When asked about a comment he made Monday during a talk with billionaire businessman Elon Musk that seemed to support firing workers who were on strike, Trump pushed back.
On Thursday, the former president said that he didn’t like it when companies threatened to fire workers who were on strike. He said, “I want businesses to hire people who will love them and work for a wage that lets the business make a profit so they can grow.”
Donald Trump spoke at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey. He did so while standing next to food displays and signs that said the prices of these foods had gone up because of the Biden-Harris administration.
Before taking questions from reporters, Trump gave a long speech in which he criticized the economic policies of the current government. He told them, “Everything is bad, and we’re going to fix it.”
Trump’s words come at a time when Harris is making progress in the race for president after taking over from Vice President Joe Biden as the top Democrat on the ticket. For three months, the betting markets saw Trump as the favorite to win the White House. But this month, they’ve changed their minds and now see Harris as the favorite. This is partly because Harris’s campaign is doing better in the polls.
One study from this week by the Financial Times and the University of Michigan found that 42% of voters trusted Harris more to handle the economy. That’s a little more than the 41% who said they trusted Trump on the economy and more than the 35% who said they trusted Biden a month ago.
One problem for the Biden campaign was that prices for many goods and services have stayed high, which has hurt the sitting Democrat’s approval ratings.
Trump and his team have tried many times to attack Harris over inflation, just like they did with Biden. After new consumer price index data came out on Wednesday, Trump’s team put out a news release saying, “Under Kamala Harris, everything costs 20% more than it did under President Trump. Working families have to pay 30% more for baby food, and the price of gasoline is up 50%.” This country can’t handle another four years of Kamala’s bad economic plans.
The focus of both Harris and Trump this week is in part on making their points about the economy in North Carolina. Trump gave a speech in Asheville on Wednesday that was supposed to be an economic talk. However, he went off-script and said things that were not part of the speech. For example, he promised to lower energy prices. Harris is going to give her speech on the economy in Raleigh on Friday.
