Trump barnstorms North Carolina as Harris gives economic speech in Pittsburgh

Former President Donald Trump barnstormed in North Carolina Wednesday as Vice President Kamala Harris gave a major speech about her economic plan in battleground Pennsylvania and sat for a rare one-on-one interview.

Trump told a rally that his plan for extensive tariffs on foreign-made products, coupled with fat new corporate tax cuts, would ignite a dramatic boom in U.S. manufacturing.

“Under my plan, American workers will no longer be worried about losing their jobs to foreign nations,” Trump told cheering supporters at a plumbing equipment factory in suburban Charlotte.

He boasted that, under a second Trump term, American business would “take other countries’ jobs,” by offering “the lowest taxes, the lowest energy costs [and] the lowest regulatory burden,” although he went off script to threaten to blow Iran “to smithereens” if the Islamic Republic targets him for assassination.

For a second straight speech in the Tarheel State, Trump didn’t even mention scandal-tarred Mark Robinson, the controversial Republican candidate for governor. A bombshell story says Robinson called himself a “Black Nazi” in remarks on a porn site.

Harris countered with a major address in Pittsburgh that laid out her own plan for a so-called “opportunity economy” to benefit middle class and working people.

“I’m a capitalist and i believe in free and fair markets,” Harris told the Economic Club of Pittsburgh. “I know the power of American innovation. (But) companies need to respect workers and unions.”

The Democratic nominee derides Trump’s tariffs as a backdoor tax hike on consumers because corporations pass on their costs to buyers. She says any new tax cuts should only go to middle-class Americans, not the super-wealthy and big corporations.

“For many decades, our economy has gotten better and better for those at the very top and increasingly difficult for those trying to attain, build and hold onto a middle class life,” Harris said.

It’s no surprise Trump and Harris were speaking in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, With national polls almost deadlocked, both states are among the seven battleground states that will likely determine the White House winner

The rival candidates are both stressing the economy at a time when polls show it is the most important issues for voters in the home stretch of the presidential campaign.

Both candidates are eager to frame themselves as tax cutters. Trump is still blasting Harris over inflation that was a major line of attack against former President Joe Biden before he dropped out of the race.

But prices have mostly stopped quickly increasing and inflation has settled back down to around the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%, spurring the central bank to cut its benchmark interest rate.

Trump says he did a great job handling the economy during his four years in office, which ended in the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. But Harris touts her record alongside Biden of engineering historic job growth and a soaring record-setting stock market.

Harris later will hold a one-on-one interview with MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle to air Wednesday night.

The sit down may help quiet critics who have accused the Democratic nominee of dodging tricky interviews and avoiding press conferences. Her campaign says she is busy helping Biden run the country and speaking directly to the American people.