Ag Policy Blog

OMAHA (DTN) -- Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump clashed on a broad range of issues in their debate Tuesday night. A few key topics in rural America were addressed while others were ignored.

Neither candidate, for instance, mentioned any legislation such as the farm bill.

1: HARRIS PITCHES NEW TAXES; TRUMP SAYS RENEW HIS PLAN

There was little substantive discussion about the broad range of business tax cuts expiring at the end of 2025. Harris' plan for new tax cuts aren't directed at current businesses. Trump said he would renew and extend his 2017 tax cuts.

"Everybody knows what I'm going to do -- cut taxes very substantially and create a great economy like I did before -- we had the greatest economy. We got hit with a pandemic."

Harris proposed extending a $6,000 tax cut for families with children, "the largest child tax credit that we've given in a long time, so that those young families can afford to buy a crib, buy a car seat, buy clothes for their children."

For small businesses, Harris called for a $50,000 tax deduction, "knowing they are part of the backbone of America's economy."

Harris also called for a $25,000 plan to help first-time home buyers.

Still, Harris said extending the Trump tax cuts would "explode the deficit" with $5 trillion in tax cuts.

2: THEY BATTLED OVER TARIFFS

Harris took aim at Trump's proposed new tariffs on imports. Harris called Trump's tariffs a national "sales tax" of 20% on everyday goods that would amount to $4,000 more a year in costs.

Trump defended his plan that calls for more import tariffs of 10% to 20% on all goods, and imposing as much as a 60% tariff on imports from China. Trump also pointed out the Biden administration never scaled back the tariffs imposed in Trump's first term.

"Other countries are going to finally, after 75 years, pay us back for all that we've done for the world. And the tariff will be substantial. In some cases, I took in billions and billions of dollars, as you know, from China. In fact, they never took the tariff off, because it was so much money. They can't, it would totally destroy everything that they've set out to do. They're taking in billions of dollars from China and other places. They've left the tariffs on."

Trump pushed back on the idea that tariffs would increase inflation on consumers while inflation soared in the first three years of Biden's term coming out of the pandemic and supply-chain crisis.

"I had tariffs, and yet I had no inflation," Trump said. He added, "We have inflation like very few people have ever seen before, probably the worst in our nation's history. We were at 21% but that's being generous, because many things are 50, 60, 70, and 80% higher than they were just a few years ago. This has been a disaster for people, for the middle class, but for every class."

Trump countered that consumers would not pay higher prices under his tariffs. "They're not going to have higher prices. Who's going to have higher prices is China and all of the countries that have been ripping us off for years."

There was no mention about whether tariffs would lead to retaliation, such as the cutting off of agricultural exports to China in 2018 and 2019.

3: HARRIS DEFLECTS ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

Trump hit Harris on illegal immigration and border crossings that soared under the Biden administration with a record number of people crossing in 2022 and 2023.

"We have millions of people pouring into our country, from prisons and jails, from mental institutions and insane asylums, and they're coming in, and they're taking jobs that are occupied right now by African Americans and Hispanics and also unions. Unions are going to be affected very soon," Trump said.

Harris had no great answer when asked why President Biden did not move sooner to curb the volume of illegal immigrants. Harris criticized Trump for stepping into the immigration debate and forcing Republicans to turn against a bipartisan effort proposed earlier this year in the Senate.

"That bill would have put more resources to allow us to prosecute transnational criminal organizations for trafficking in guns, drugs and human beings," Harris said. "But you know what happened to that bill? Donald Trump got on the phone, called some folks in Congress and said, kill the bill. And you know why? Because he preferred a run on a problem instead of fixing a problem."

Trump is proposing an aggressive mass deportation plan that would use the National Guard to help deport at least 11 million people now in the country illegally. When asked how he would do that, Trump again attacked the Biden administration for open borders.

"And I think they probably did it because they think they're going to get votes, but it's not worth it, because they are destroying the fabric of our country by what they've done. There's never been anything done like this at all," Trump said.

There was no discussion about how to address labor shortages in industries such as agriculture, which relies heavily on migrant labor.

4: THEY ARE SPLIT ON ENERGY

Asked about reversing some of her positions, Harris said she did not oppose fracking -- a key issue in states such as Pennsylvania -- and said she made that clear in 2020. Harris also said she had the tie-breaking vote for the Inflation Reduction Act that opened up new leases for fracking.

"We have got to invest in diverse sources of energy so we can reduce our reliance on foreign oil," Harris said.

Harris also pointed out the Biden administration has helped invest $1 trillion in a clean-energy economy while increasing both gas and oil production. "We have created over 800,000 new manufacturing jobs while I have been vice president. We have invested in clean energy to the point that we are opening factories all over the world."

Trump said, "Fracking, she's been against it for 12 years." He added, "If she won the election, fracking in Pennsylvania will end on day one."

Trump said Harris would continue to push up the costs of energy.

"Fossil fuel will be dead. We'll go back to windmills and we'll go back to solar where they need a whole desert to get some energy to come out."

Also see, "Farm Leaders Reveal Sharp Contrasts for Agriculture Under Harris and Trump Presidencies," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

Follow him on social platform X @ChrisClaytonDTN

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