Trump, Harris Are Both ‘Anti-Trade,’ Business Lobby Chief Says

(Bloomberg) -- The head of the biggest US business lobbying group criticized both presidential nominees as “anti-trade,” saying their ideas are bad for American companies and individuals.

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Broad tariffs, like the sweeping 60% duty on China that Republican Donald Trump has floated, would hurt American manufacturers that import components and parts, said Suzanne Clark, president and chief executive officer of the US Chamber of Commerce.

Yet Vice President Kamala Harris appears poised to continue President Joe Biden’s avoidance of new free-trade deals if elected on Nov. 5, Clark said. Harris was one of 10 senators to vote against the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade in 2020, citing its lack of provisions to address climate change. She criticized the deal again last month.

“We have two presidential candidates who are anti-trade,” Clark said in an interview at Bloomberg’s Washington office on Wednesday. “We believe that’s bad for America, and we believe that’s bad for American families and American communities.”

The Biden administration has pursued what it calls a “worker-centered” policy that looks critically at past free-trade deals. Even as prior pacts opened markets for US exports, they also exposed America to imports from around the world. Harris, some Democrats and their allies in organized labor blame those agreements for the loss of hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs.

The Biden administration hasn’t taken up any free-trade talks, including those with the UK and Kenya that were begun under the Trump administration. It has opted instead to pursue economic goals through initiatives that focus on issues such as supply chains and clean energy — without lowering tariffs, which would require congressional approval.

Biden administration trade and economic initiatives include the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity. The Chamber and other business groups have criticized them as light on impact compared with past tariff-lowering agreements.

A Bloomberg Economics analysis earlier this year found that Trump’s vow to impose 60% tariffs on imports from China and 10% duties on those from the rest of the world would likely send inflation above the Federal Reserve’s target and pressure the central bank to raise interest rates.

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