Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance (R-OH) said Wednesday that Vice President Kamala Harris does not care about American workers, evidenced by her criticisms of former President Donald Trump’s tax and tariff policies and the flood of illegal immigration under the Biden-Harris administration, which has undercut wages for American workers.
Vance laid out his argument during a press call on Wednesday morning with union members.
WATCH — Van Jones: There’s “Real Economic Competition” “Between Immigrant Labor and Black Labor”:
“I think what we’ve seen with this outpouring of union worker support for our campaign is the people are waking up to the fact that while Kamala Harris talks a big game about standing up for workers, her policies have made it unaffordable for workers to actually live the American Dream,” Vance said.
Vance then highlighted evidence he says challenges the claim that “Kamala actually gives a damn about working people in this country.”
He first pointed to her criticism of Trump’s tariff plans to protect Americans’ jobs and wages and to discourage American companies from leaving the United States.
“When she goes after Donald Trump’s approach to tariffs — tariffs are the best tool that we have to fight back against the Chinese and other countries using slave labor to undercut the wages of American workers,” he said.
Migrants walk along the highway through Suchiate, Chiapas state in southern Mexico, July 21, 2024, during their journey north toward the U.S. border. (AP Photo/Edgar H. Clemente)
“If you’re not willing to use tariffs to protect American workers, to protect their jobs, and to protect American industry, then we don’t have to guess at what happens. We’ve seen what’s happened over the past 40 years,” Vance continued. “All of those industries and all of those jobs, they go to Mexico, they go to China, they go to a lot of other places, and they’re not going to Americans.”
Vance emphasized that many workers who have lost their jobs also have to train their replacements “because Kamala Harris refuses to do what she needs to do to protect American workers.”
“So I don’t think that we should let her get away with this idea that she supports working men and women. She doesn’t, and the proof is in the pudding,” he said.
He then zoned in on her attacks on Trump over his tax policy.
“Well, what is Kamala Harris’s tax policy if you combine her criticism of his tariff approach and his tax approach? Well, what she’s saying is, ‘We want to raise,’ — Kamala Harris wants to raise taxes on American workers, and she wants to reward companies that are shipping jobs overseas,” Vance said.
WATCH — “Here I Am!” — Trump Warns China over Taking Advantage of American Workers While He Was Gone:
C-SPAN
“She wants to subsidize green energy, and she wants to impose [Electric Vehicle] mandates that are going to see hundreds of thousands of good auto jobs go to China and other places to make electric vehicles when we should be buying American-made cars, made by American workers,” he added. “Donald Trump’s policy, by contrast, is very simple. It’s cut taxes on American workers, give them more of their hard-earned money, but penalize businesses and countries that are shipping jobs overseas and undercutting the wages of American workers.”
Vance turned to the adverse effects of illegal immigration on American wages, slamming Harris as the “candidate of illegal labor in this country.”
Vance emphasized the millions of illegal aliens that have entered the country under her and President Joe Biden’s watch are “competing against American citizens and legal residents for important jobs, and undercutting their wages in the process.”
“So this is a person’s whose policies cut against the idea that she stands for the American working man and the working women,” Vance said. “The president for American workers is Donald J Trump. I’m proud to stand with him and I’m proud that it looks increasingly like we got the majority of the Teamsters supporting us.”
“I bet a solid showing among United Auto Workers and a lot other unions all across the country. We’re proud to have them on board and we’re going to work to make sure they get fair negations, good wages, and that their government fights to protect their jobs when Donald Trump is back in the White House,” he concluded.
