Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, will face former President Donald Trump, a Republican, in the 2024 US presidential election that could be decided by a slim handful of votes in seven battleground states. The two men are sharply divided on the role the U.S. government should play in the lives of Americans and the world at large, as well as on issues ranging from abortion rights to immigration to trade.

Foreign policy

Harris supports continued U.S. aid to Ukraine as that country fights Russian invasion. She helped Biden rally allies in Europe to support Ukraine, including organizing sanctions against Russian exports and officials, and met seven times with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. She called suggestions that Ukraine cede territory to ensure peace as “proposals of capitulation.”

Trump has called for a negotiated peace between Ukraine and Russia, a position that suggests parts of Ukraine could eventually end up under Russian control. He said he would not give more money to Ukraine and opposed aid legislation in Congress. Trump has since suggested that Ukraine’s security is of important interest to the United States. He said he could end the war within 24 hours, although he did not specify how.

Democracy

Harris has made protecting American democratic norms a central plank of her campaign, calling Trump’s threats against the press and courts dangerous and his support for dictators and autocratic leaders naive and un-American.

Trump’s approach differs from American norms. He falsely claims the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden was stolen through widespread voter fraud, inspired an attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters, called the courts rigged, called for “repeal” the Constitution if necessary and declared he wants to be a dictator one day.

Race in the United States

Harris said white supremacy fueled a 2019 mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, that killed 23 people. She has accused Trump of trying to divide Americans over race and often mentions his false claims that Barack Obama, the first black president of the United States, was not born in the United States.

Trump’s campaign rallies often highlight white resentment over the perceived threat from racial minorities and illegal immigrants in the country. Trump called people who illegally commit violent crimes in the country “animals” and “vermin” and encouraged false claims that Haitian immigrants were stealing pets for food in an Ohio town . Trump said his economic policies helped racial minority groups during his first administration and would do so again if elected.

Immigration

Harris called for an “orderly and humane path to earned citizenship for hard-working people” during a Spanish-language town hall-style event broadcast on Univision in October. She supports a bipartisan Senate bill that would fund more border agents, immigration judges and asylum officers in the United States.

Trump built or upgraded 450 miles of U.S.-Mexico border wall as president and pledged to complete it. He wants to arrest all migrants caught entering the country illegally or violating other immigration laws. He promised the largest deportation effort in U.S. history and would deploy National Guard troops and, if necessary, regular military personnel. He wants to end automatic citizenship for children born to immigrants living in the United States illegally.

Trade with China

Harris is expected to keep tariffs in place on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese imports after a Biden administration review of the duties, which were first imposed by Trump. Democrats raised tariffs in areas they said were strategically important to the United States or threatened by Chinese overproduction, including electric vehicles.

Trump has suggested a minimum 10% tariff on all foreign imports, ending China’s most favored nation trade status, and is proposing tariffs on Chinese imports above 60%. He also wants to impose tariffs in retaliation against countries that erect their own trade barriers and has suggested tariffs of up to 200 percent on some foreign car imports, including from China.

Regulations

Harris has been urged by donors to replace President Joe Biden’s Federal Trade Commissioner, Lina Khan, who has taken a much tougher approach to merger oversight than the Trump administration, but has not suggested that she would. Biden’s administration has been reviewing more deals to ensure consumers don’t face higher prices or fewer choices, and has filed lawsuits to stop several major tie-ups.

Trump supported deregulation as president, including ending bans on oil and gas extraction, although many of his executive orders to overturn those bans were overturned by the courts. One order required any government agency proposing a new regulation to also repeal two regulations. Trump says he would crack down on federal whistleblowers, who are generally protected by law, and establish an independent body to monitor U.S. intelligence agencies.

Climate

Harris is expected to continue efforts led by President Joe Biden to shift the U.S. economy away from fossil fuels through tax breaks and other incentives. She often cites a law called the Inflation Reduction Act, which provides billions of dollars in tax credits to help consumers buy electric vehicles and businesses produce renewable energy, as the type of policy she would pursue.

Trump pledged to reverse Biden’s investments in green technology and electric cars, expand oil, gas and coal development, remove electric vehicle mandates and reduce environmental regulatory oversight , according to his advisors. Trump would once again withdraw the United States from the historic Paris international agreement aimed at combating global warming.

Abortion

Harris pledged to enact legislation codifying safe access to abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 overturned its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized the procedure nationwide. Because there aren’t enough votes in the divided Congress to support such legislation, she said she supports ending a procedural tool that requires a supermajority in the Senate to pass legislation.

Trump takes credit for appointing three of the conservative justices to the majority in the U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling on abortion. This decision ended recognition of women’s constitutional right to abortion and allowed each state to set its own limits on abortion.

Education

Harris chose a former public school teacher, Tim Walz, as his vice presidential candidate and spoke about the need to ban guns, not books, in schools, to teach the full history of United States and create a pool of black teachers. The Democratic Party said more U.S. government investment in early childhood education programs, such as preschool, would raise wages and reduce poverty.

Trump has pledged to shut down the U.S. Department of Education. As president, he dramatically cut funding for K-12 public schools, while providing billions of dollars in tax credits to his private school voucher plan. Trump promises to cut funding for public schools that teach about race and gender issues that he considers too liberal, and to increase funding for charter schools.

Economy and taxes

Harris wants to raise tax rates on U.S. households earning more than $400,000 a year, but extend the Trump tax cuts that expire in 2017 below that threshold when they expire in 2025. She wants to increase the credit child tax at $3,600 per child per year, with a $6,000 bonus. for newborns, eliminate taxes on tips and offer a $25,000 credit to first-time home buyers.

Trump wants to keep all of the 2017 personal tax rates, saying they boosted U.S. growth before the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump has pledged to eliminate taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security benefits.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Firstpost staff.)

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