Here’s the obvious rebuttal. She said if inflation is what’s important to you, that breaks for Harris. This is somehow based on hypothetical inflation for each candidate in their upcoming administration, based on some subset of anonymous economists?
The obvious rebuttal is that we already have inflation data from when these two candidates were in power. And the data on inflation looks horrible for Biden/Harris.
There is a reason the electorate trusts Trump more than Harris on the economy.
If/when Harris wins, it will be because of Roe being overturned, people having Trump fatigue, and other things that move the needle in her favor. It will not be because the average voter thinks voting for Harris is the better “business decision”
1. Kamala has never been "in power."
2. Inflation is gone. It's basically at the Fed target. 2022 wants its talking points back.
3. Here's the thing about tariffs (which Trump absolutely will put in place after all the emphasis he's given them; it's basically his entire spiel): the only way they work is by causing inflation. They are designed to cause inflation. They are pointless without inflation.
What, after all, is the point of a tariff? It's too give domestic industry a price advantage over foreign imports. Well, that can only happen if the foreign imports actually go up in price. If, as Trump says, the foreign industry will just pay the tax and keep the imports flowing at the same price, then the tariff would have accomplished nothing! Foreign competition will still have a price advantage and US workers will have gained nothing!
Another (related) purpose of tariffs: to help American companies become more profitable by allowing them to raise prices. Again, inflation is the whole point! If American companies don't raise prices, then what did the tariffs do for them? One supposes that for firms with high operating leverage, a bit of spike in gross profit could help increase net income (though this would not help workers) -- but tariffs apply to tradeable goods, which are typically low operating leverage firms (because, you know, the stuff they make costs actual resources).
So your casual dismissal of these tariffs as "speculation" or "hypothetical" doesn't work. The only way they aren't inflationary is if they have no effect, and then you might wonder why set off trade wars to accomplish nothing. Either way, it's an incredibly stupid economic policy.
4. What neither you nor Trump seems to understand is that adjustments in the economy do not occur overnight. Let's suppose that, by magic, Trump tariffs autos and auto parts at 100% and it doesn't cause any decline in demand and it won't raise prices in the long term. Fine. All the auto parts are going to be made in the US and none in Mexico. How long is that going to take? There are not American auto parts plants ready to pick up the slack. The supply chains haven't been developed. The labor force isn't there.
So, again, even best case scenario about what the tariffs will do eventually, in the short run the tariffs he is talking about will cause shortages. Remember when you couldn't buy a bike during the pandemic? Well, that's the purpose of Trump's economic plan. The whole point is to prevent you from buying a bike until whenever American industry can develop domestic bike manufacturing.