Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are facing off in their first debate of the 2024 presidential campaign, giving Americans the chance to hear what they have to say about some of the most pressing issues facing them, including the economy, immigration, abortion access, foreign affairs and more.
Trump has criticized Democrats’ handing of the economy and has shared his positions on what should be done about an array of issues, including taxes, inflation and immigration. Here are some key points from the plans he’s offered, information about his record and what he’s said about some of these subjects.
Taxes
Trump and Harris have competing tax plans. Both nominees’ plans would have to be passed by Congress, which has the power of the purse. Here’s what Trump has proposed so far:
- Trump says he would extend tax cuts enacted in 2017, which reduced taxes for most Americans, though research has shown that top earners benefited the most.
- Trump’s plan would result in tax cuts for all, but the results for Americans vastly differ from Harris’ proposal, according to an analysis by the Penn Wharton Budget Model. Under Trump, everyone would receive a tax cut, but the lowest earners — those making under $19,600 — would just see a $320 difference in take-home pay, while under Harris, that same income group would have another $2,355 after taxes. The very highest earners under Trump would receive a tax break of $376,910, according to the Penn Wharton analysis.
- Both Trump and Harris want to eliminate federal taxes on tips, something Trump proposed and Harris echoed.
- Trump is also promising to end income taxes on Social Security benefits, which would help middle- and upper-middle income seniors the most.
Inflation
- Trump has pledged to end the “inflation nightmare.” But his policies, which include adding tariffs to all imported goods, would likely fuel inflation and reverse some of the progress of the last two years, some economists say.
Child tax credit
- Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, Trump’s running mate, has pitched boosting the child tax credit to $5,000, up from the current top tax break of $2,000. He has advocated providing the tax credit to all Americans, including higher earners.
- Harris one-upped Vance’s number, suggesting a child tax credit of $6,000, although this would be for the parents of newborns. She also suggested a return to the pandemic-era expansion of the child tax credit, up to $3,600 for young children. She hasn’t released income eligibility thresholds, but it’s likely that it would phase out for those at higher income levels.
Abortion
Trump and Harris have opposing views on abortion access, an issue that could be a crucial motivator for voters in November.
- Both Trump and Harris have highlighted the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, and the role that the three justices appointed by Trump played in that landmark decision, albeit for different reasons: Trump has touted his nomination of three of the five justices who voted to overturn Roe, while Harris has criticized her opponent for specifically selecting justices who would dismantle the constitutional right to abortion.
- Trump has said the issue should be left up to the voters of each state, declaring in an April video that “the states will determine by vote or legislation, or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land.”
- While Trump has stopped short of backing a federal abortion ban, he said during a March radio interview that “people are agreeing on 15, and I’m thinking in terms of that.”
- But Trump has also called a six-week ban signed into law by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis a “terrible thing and a terrible mistake.” He told NBC News in an interview in late August that six weeks is “too long” and said he is “going to be voting that we need more than six weeks” — a reference to a proposed amendment to Florida’s Constitution that is on the November ballot and would prohibit laws that restrict abortion before fetal viability, generally considered to be between 22 and 24 weeks of pregnancy.
- Trump backtracked after facing swift backlash from conservatives and said he would be voting “no” on the abortion amendment.
IVF
Access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) services became a campaign issue after the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in February that frozen embryos created during the IVF process could be considered children. The decision threatened the availability of IVF services in Alabama and thrust access to fertility treatments into the national conversation, including among the presidential candidates.
- Trump unveiled a new plan last month that would require the federal government or insurance companies to cover the costs of IVF treatments, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Immigration
- Trump has promised to launch the largest deportation operation in American history, invoking the notorious “Operation Wetback” roundup of Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans in the 1950s under President Dwight Eisenhower. Officials question whether the promise is feasible given the significant operational and legal constraints involved in deporting millions of unauthorized immigrants, some of whom have U.S. citizen children.
- Trump vowed to try to end birthright citizenship for the children of immigrants living in the country illegally — a move that legal experts say is unlikely to pass constitutional muster.
- The former president says he plans to reinstate his hardline border policies, including a program requiring migrants to remain in Mexico while their asylum cases are reviewed. He has also pledged to militarize the U.S.-Mexico border and to deputize the National Guard to arrest migrants crossing into the country unlawfully.
- Trump has not ruled out reviving the practice of separating migrant parents from their children as a way to deter migration, a policy that was discontinued after public outcry and a judicial order.
- He has talked about denying entry to legal immigrants based on their ideological beliefs, saying the move would target “Marxists” and “communists.”
- Trump says he’d suspend refugee admissions from the Middle East, and suggested he would reinstate and expand the travel ban his administration issued for certain countries, most of them predominantly Muslim.
- Harris has not yet issued an immigration policy platform. When talking about the issue during campaign events, Harris has mostly brought up the bipartisan border security deal that collapsed in Congress earlier this year after Trump urged GOP lawmakers to reject it. Harris has promised to revive the bill and accused Trump of scuttling it for political reasons.
Education
- Trump says he wants to break up the Education Department. He’s also said he wants to cut federal spending for any school pushing “critical race theory” or transgender matters.
- Like many Republicans, Trump is also a proponent of school choice — enabling parents to use tax dollars toward private institutions, rather than public schools.
- In 2018, a federal court approved a $25 million settlement with students who said they were misled by Trump and his now-defunct Trump University. The institution was supposed to teach them the real estate business. It operated from 2005 to 2010.
Climate
- Trump has summed up his energy policy with the slogan “drill, baby, drill.” He vows to make America the world’s leading producer of oil and gas, in part by lifting restrictions on energy production.
- Trump’s energy plan, shared with CBS News via email, said he’d slash energy and electricity prices by more than half.
- As president, Trump proposed large cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency, which were ultimately rejected by the Democrat-led House Appropriations Committee. He told Fox News in June, “One of the things that’s so bad for us is environmental agencies. They make it impossible to do anything.”
- Trump pulled out of the landmark Paris climate agreement in 2020 and his campaign says he would again exit the international treaty if he wins another term. The U.S. rejoined the agreement in 2021 — a decision announced the day Mr. Biden took office.
- Trump vowed he will undo what he calls Biden’s “electric vehicle mandate” on day one in office. The Biden-Harris administration has not issued any sort of mandate, but has introduced incentives to spur EV adoption at set goals and set a target that half of all new vehicle sales be zero emissions by 2030.
Guns
- The NRA endorsed Trump in May at its annual convention, and he has addressed the group several times, including in 2022 shortly after the Uvalde shooting. At another NRA event in February, he vowed “no one will lay a finger on your firearms.”
- After the Las Vegas shooting in Oct. 2017, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms under the Trump administration moved forward with a ban on bump stocks, devices that greatly increase the rate of fire of semi-automatic weapons. The ban was later struck down by the Supreme Court.
Israel and Gaza
Both Harris and Trump have at times been critical of Israel’s handling of its war against Hamas in Gaza. But neither has threatened to pull support for the ally.
- Trump, who has portrayed himself as a staunch defender of Israel, has criticized the Israeli government’s handling of the war in Gaza. In a November interview with Univision, Trump commented on the war in Gaza, saying “Israel has to do a better job of public relations, frankly, because the other side is beating them at the public relations front.” He also called on Israel to “get it over with” in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.
- As president, Trump controversially moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and ended decades of U.S. opposition to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. (The Biden administration reversed the settlement decision.)
Ukraine and Russia
- Trump has repeatedly claimed he could end the war in Ukraine in a day, though he has not outlined how he would do so. He has also claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin would never have invaded Ukraine under his administration.
- Vance has been vocal about the GOP ticket’s opposition to additional Ukraine aid. Trump himself pushed for a loan framework for aid to Ukraine during debate over an aid package in February. At a rally in June, he suggested aid to Ukraine could stop if he returned to office.
- Trump spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the phone in July. A phone conversation between the two leaders nearly five years prior spurred Trump’s first impeachment, when Trump pushed for Zelenskyy to investigate his political rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter.
- Trump has suggested he would not protect NATO members from Russia if they don’t increase defense spending.
- Trump attempted to build friendly relations with Russia while in office and has often praised Putin, calling the Russian leader “savvy” after Putin recognized the independence of two Russian separatist-controlled areas in Eastern Ukraine ahead of the invasion.
China
Trump has continued to talk tough against China while praising its leader Xi Jinping.
- Trump told Bloomberg Businessweek in July that Taiwan should pay for U.S. protection.
- In the Senate, Harris co-sponsored the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act and the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act. Trump signed both into law.
- In a recent interview with Fox News host Mark Levin, Trump said he “respected” China and Xi, adding that he’d “rather have a good relationship with China.” But he also accused the country of taking advantage of the U.S.
- Trump has threatened to escalate his trade war with China, floating a tariff of 60% or more on Chinese goods.
- Trump has also proposed revoking China’s Most Favored Nation trade status, phasing out all imports of essential goods from China and banning China from buying U.S. farmland.
Iran nuclear deal
It’s unclear whether Harris would seek to cut a new nuclear deal with Iran if she wins the election. Trump rejected the Obama-era deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and removed the U.S. from the international agreement.
- In 2018, as he withdrew the U.S. from the 2015 deal, Trump called it “disastrous” and “a great embarrassment.”
