How the Trump and Harris presidencies may affect gas, grocery and housing prices

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

Even though the rate of inflation has slowed, Americans still struggle with high prices at gas stations, grocery stores and more.

High prices have become a key issue for voters as the presidential election approaches. Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have unveiled plans they believe will lower costs for Americans through various policies.

In the second part of BI’s five-part series on the final stretch before the election, Business Insider takes a look at how each candidate will impact costs.

From the Democrats’ perspective, economic policy book A release by Harris’ campaign said she and her chosen vice president, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, “know that prices continue to be too high for middle-class families and therefore their top economic priorities will be lowering the cost of everyday needs.”

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

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

Taylor Rogers, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, told BI in a statement that “Trump will once again cut taxes and unleash America’s 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 affect the cost of several things, based on the economic policy proposals the candidates have released.

Groceries

High food costs remain a top concern for voters. According to Pew Research Center questionnaire Over 9,000 adults took part in the research conducted from late August to early September, and 74% of respondents said they were concerned about the high cost of groceries.

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

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Dan Scheitrum, an agribusiness professor who studies grocery price gouging at California Polytechnic State University, I told BI earlier that Harris’ proposal may not help much outside of a crisis such as a natural disaster or pandemic.

“If we tried to lower grocery prices today, there would be no state of emergency. So most protections against price gouging would not apply at all,” Scheitrum said.

Trump, in turn, said during a September town hall session that he would lower grocery prices by limiting food imports to support domestic producers. “Our farmers are now being completely decimated. And one of the reasons is that we’re putting a lot of agricultural products into our country,” Trump said.

When asked how Trump would lower grocery prices recently during an October town hall in Pennsylvania, Trump’s lengthy response focused mainly on immigration while stating that “we will do a lot of things” to deal with high grocery prices.

While the details of Trump’s plan to restrict food imports are minimal, it is comparable to the former president’s pledge to raise tariffs in his second term – and that’s was criticized by experts who argued that it would actually increase inflation.

Apartments

The high cost of housing is another key issue. According to the economic policy book, Harris would lower rent and mortgage prices by building 3 million new apartments and expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, which allows private developers and nonprofit developers to build affordable rental housing.

“Right now, the severe housing shortage is one of the factors driving up costs,” Harris said at a September campaign event in Las Vegas.

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

Trump’s platform said the former president would address housing affordability by promoting “home ownership through tax incentives and support for first-time buyers, and would cut unnecessary regulations that drive up housing costs.” The platform did not specify which regulations Trump would cut, but during a September speech at the Economic Club of New York, he said that “regulations cost 30% of a new home, and we will make portions of federal land available for large-scale investment.” housing.”

Rogers, the RNC spokesman, told BI that Trump would “secure the border, ban mortgages for illegal immigrants who drive up housing prices, and eliminate federal regulations that increase housing costs” and repeated his promise to make federal land available for development.

Imported goods

Trump announced the imposition of wide-ranging tariffs of 10-20% on all imports, which could increase the prices of most goods imported from other countries.

Imported goods that may 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 impacted include automotive drugs ($320 billion so far this year), human and veterinary drugs ($155 billion), food and beverages ($140 billion dollars), furniture ($27 billion) billion) and household appliances ($25 billion).

And it’s not just popular consumer goods that will cost more. Economists also worry about the potential impact on imported products from iron and steel mills. If these become more expensive, products using them as components will also increase.

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

Harris didn’t provide many details about her pricing plans. However, Biden has implemented increased tariffs on products such as steel, aluminum and semiconductors, and Harris will likely continue these actions if he wins the election.

Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, the GOP vice presidential nominee, do he noticed that the Biden administration has maintained Trump-era tariffs on Chinese goods – in fact, Biden has raised tariffs on about $15 billion of Chinese imports.

Gas

Few prices are as closely watched in politics as the cost of filling up at the gas station. Gasoline prices have risen at times during the Biden-Harris administration, including in the summer of 2022, when they peaked at a national average of more than $5 a gallon before dropping to about $3 a gallon.

Energy prices are also extremely difficult because presidents do not have the power to control complex global and regional markets. Even when the White House reaches for strategic oil reserves, it is rather a symbolic gesture.

Trump has he promised “drill drills for kids,” promising to empower the fossil fuel industry by cutting regulations and issuing more drilling leases on federal lands.

It is unclear how much more appetite oil producers have to increase production. The Biden-Harris administration also presided over, among others, record high for oil production in the USA.

Harris promised to go even further vocation for more enabling reforms. He also supports more federal subsidies for renewable energy.

Prescription drugs

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

In the White House, Trump initially broke with pharmaceuticals industry by proposing to link Medicare drug prices to international standards, but has since done so he withdrew With ambitious cost control policy. Senator JD Vance, the Republican Party’s vice presidential candidate, mentioned drug price transparency.

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