Which US Presidential Candidate Would Be Better for US Manufacturing?

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Former President Donald Trump debated their impact on US manufacturing during the September 10 presidential debate hosted by ABC News.

When ABC News Live "Prime" anchor Linsey Davis asked the candidates what they would do to fight climate change, their answers evolved into discussions about their records on U.S. manufacturing.

"We have created over 800,000 new manufacturing jobs while I have been vice president," said Harris. "We have invested in clean energy to the point that we are opening up factories around the world. Donald Trump said he was going to create manufacturing jobs. He lost manufacturing jobs. And I'm also proud to have the endorsement of the United Auto Workers and Shawn Fain, who also know that part of building a clean energy economy includes investing in American-made products, American automobiles. It includes growing what we can do around American manufacturing and opening up auto plants, not closing them like happened under Donald Trump."

Trump responded: "That didn't happen under Donald Trump. Let me just tell you, they lost 10,000 manufacturing jobs this last month. It's going—they're all leaving. They're building big auto plants in Mexico. In many cases owned by China. They're building these massive plants, and they think they're going to sell their cars into the United States because of these people. What they have given to China is unbelievable. But we're not going to let that. We'll put tariffs on those cars so they can't come into our country. Because they will kill the United Auto Workers and any auto worker, whether it's in Detroit or South Carolina or any other place. What they've done to business and manufacturing in this country is horrible."

We’d like to hear from you. Which candidate would be better for US manufacturing? Please take our LinkedIn poll.

Earlier this summer at the Republication National Convention, both Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance promised support for US factory workers and carmakers. "We will build factories again, put people to work making real products for American families, made with the hands of American workers," said Vance. Added Trump: “Those plants are going to be built in the United States and our people are going to man those plants. And if they don’t agree with us, we’ll put a tariff of approximately 100 to 200% on each car and they will be unsellable in the United States.”

At the Democratic National Convention, President Joe Biden touted the boost that the CHIPS and Science Acts have given to US semiconductor manufacturing and the creation of jobs: These manufacturers "will create tens of thousands of jobs. And many of those jobs will be in the so-called Fabs, the buildings that make the chips that are being constructed now,” said Biden. “And guess what? The average salary in those fabs, size of a football field, will be over $100,000 a year, and you don’t need a college degree.”