• High costs are a major concern for presidential voters.
• Below is what Harris and Trump have proposed to lower costs for Americans.
• This is the second in a five-part series on the impacts a Trump or Harris presidency could have on American consumers.

Even though the pace of inflation has slowed, Americans continue to face high prices at gas stations, grocery stores, and more.

These high prices have become a major issue for voters in the run-up to the presidential election. Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have outlined plans they say will lower costs for Americans through various policies.

In the second installment of BI’s five-part series in the final stretch before the election, Business Insider examines how each candidate will impact the cost of things.

From the Democratic point of view, an economic policy book released by the Harris campaign said she and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, “know that prices are still too high for middle-class families, which is why their top economic priorities will be to reduce the costs of daily needs.

When reached for comment, the Harris campaign referred Business Insider to remarks on the previously announced policies.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Trump’s agenda — which was adopted by the Republican National Committee in July — outlined 20 principles that the former president would prioritize during his second term, one of which is: “End inflation and make America affordable again.”

Taylor Rogers, a spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, told BI in a statement that “Trump will once again cut taxes and unleash American energy to lower the prices of groceries and other goods when we send him back to the White House.”

Here’s how a Trump or Harris presidency would impact the cost of a handful of things, based on economic policy proposals released by the candidates.

Grocery stores

The high cost of food remains a major concern for voters. According to a Pew research center investigation conducted from late August to early September among more than 9,000 adults, 74% of respondents said they were concerned about the high costs of groceries.

In August, Harris released a plan to combat high food costs by implementing a federal ban on price gouging of groceries during national emergencies.

Dan Scheitrum, an associate professor of agribusiness who studies food price gouging at California Polytechnic State University, previously told BI that Harris’ proposal might not be of much help outside of a crisis, like a natural disaster or pandemic.

“If you tried to reduce food prices today, there would be no state of emergency, so most protections against price gouging would not apply at all,” Scheitrum said.

Trump, for his part, said at a September town hall that he would reduce food prices by limiting food imports to support domestic producers. “Our farmers are completely decimated right now. And, you know, one of the reasons is that we’re allowing large amounts of agricultural products into our country,” Trump said.

When asked how he would reduce food prices more recently at a town hall in Pennsylvania in October, Trump’s wide-ranging response focused largely on immigration while asserting that “we will do a lot of things” to manage high food prices.

While details are minimal on Trump’s plan to restrict food imports, it lives up to the former president’s pledge to toughen tariffs in a second term — and it’s faces criticism from experts who said it would actually boost inflation.

Accommodation

High housing costs are another key problem. According to Harris’ economic policy book, she would reduce rent and mortgage prices by building 3 million new homes and expanding the low-income housing tax credit, which allows private and nonprofit developers profitable to build affordable rental housing.

“Right now, a severe housing shortage is part of what’s driving up costs,” Harris said at a campaign event in Las Vegas in September.

Additionally, according to her campaign, Harris plans to give Americans up to $25,000 in down payment assistance to help them finance the purchase of a home.

Trump’s platform said the former president would address housing affordability by promoting “homeownership through tax incentives and support for first-time buyers, and by removing unnecessary regulations that increase costs housing”. The platform did not specify which regulations Trump would remove, but he said during a speech at the Economic Club of New York in September that “the regulations cost 30% of the price of a new home, and we will open portions of federal lands to large-scale projects. housing construction.”

Rogers, the RNC spokesperson, told BI that Trump would “secure the border, ban mortgages to illegal immigrants that drive up housing prices, and eliminate federal regulations that drive up housing costs,” and said reiterated the promise to open federal lands to construction. .

Imported goods

Trump has pledged to impose sweeping tariffs ranging from 10 to 20 percent on all imports, which could raise prices for most goods imported from other countries.

Imported goods that could be affected by tariffs cover a wide range of products. According to the Census Bureau, the main categories of U.S. imports that will be affected include automotive drugs ($320 billion so far this year), human and veterinary drugs ($155 billion), food and beverages ($140 billion), furniture ($27 billion). billion dollars) and household appliances ($25 billion).

And it’s not just popular consumer goods that would cost more. Economists are also concerned about the potential impact on imported steel products. If these become more expensive, so will products that use them as components.

While Trump has insisted that other countries would pay the tariffs, a wide range of economists agree that the price increases would fall largely on American businesses and households. For example, a analysis of the Tax Policy Center found that all income groups would pay higher taxes due to Trump’s tariffs, with the lowest income households paying about $320 more in taxes and middle-income households paying $1,350 moreover.

Harris didn’t give many details about his pricing plans. However, Biden has implemented increased tariffs on products like steel, aluminum and semiconductors, and Harris would likely continue those actions if she wins the election.

Trump and Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, the Republican Party’s vice presidential nominee, underlines that the Biden administration maintained Trump-era tariffs on Chinese goods — in fact, Biden increased tariffs on about $15 billion of Chinese imports.

Gas

Few prices are more scrutinized in politics than the cost of filling up at the gas station. Gas prices have climbed at times during the Biden-Harris administration, including in the summer of 2022, when they peaked at a national average above $5 a gallon. before dropping back to around $3 per gallon.

Energy prices are also notoriously tricky because presidents lack the power to control complex global and regional markets. Even when the White House exploits the strategic oil reserve, it is more of a symbolic gesture.

Trump has promised to “drill baby drill,” pledging to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable by reducing regulations and issuing more leases for drilling on federal lands.

It is unclear to what extent oil producers are more willing to increase production. The Biden-Harris administration also chaired a record for American oil production.

Harris vowed to go even further, call for a more permissive reform. She also supports more federal subsidies for renewable energy.

Prescription medications

As a candidate in 2016, Trump repeatedly promised to give the federal government the power to negotiate prescription drug prices, although he did not pass the measure as president.

In the White House, Trump first broke with the pharmaceutical sector. by proposing to tie Medicare drug prices to international standards, but he has since retreated of the ambitious cost control policy. Senator JD Vance, Republican vice-presidential candidate, spoke about drug price transparency.

Harris promised to expand two provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, allowing Medicare to negotiate prices for certain drugs. She wants to extend the $2,000 legal cap on drug spending and the $35 monthly cap on insulin to all Americans.