U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at West Allis Central High School in West Allis, Wisconsin, United States, on July 23, 2024.
Vincent Orban | Reuters
Washington—Vice President Kamala Harris Her campaign announced late Wednesday that it plans to propose for the first time a federal ban on price gouging by “companies in the food and grocery industry.”
“Fair pricing in a competitive market and Price is too high “This has nothing to do with the cost of doing business. Americans can see the difference in their grocery bills,” the Harris campaign said in a statement.
The proposed ban is part of a wider ban Economic Policy Platform The Democratic presidential candidate plans to make the announcement at a campaign rally in battleground North Carolina on Friday.
Harris will also pledge that, if elected president, she will direct the administration to increase scrutiny of potential mergers between major supermarkets and food manufacturers, “particularly given the risk that proposed mergers would raise grocery prices for consumers,” she said. the campaign said.
The series of regulatory proposals is one of the earliest efforts by the Harris campaign to outline an economic platform independent of President Joe Biden’s agenda.
Before Biden abruptly dropped out of the race in July and endorsed Harris, he spent more than a year campaigning for reelection and blaming corporate greed for inflation-driven consumer prices.
However, Harris’ plan remains firmly within Biden’s overall regulatory approach, which has Prioritize consumer protection Across multiple industries and sue to block Multiple large-scale corporate mergers.
March, White House Carry out “severe crackdown on unfair and illegal pricing practices” This is a joint initiative of the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission.
On Friday, Harris will single out the meat industry, saying that “despite meatpacking companies’ record profits following the pandemic, soaring meat prices have accounted for rising grocery bills among Americans.” A big part.” her campaign.
The Democratic presidential candidate will also unveil proposals aimed at lowering consumer costs in two other areas where companies have aggressively exercised pricing power: prescription drugs and housing.
Harris’ speech will come two days after her opponent, former President Donald Trumpgave it to myself economic policy speech In North Carolina, he blamed Harris for high prices on consumer goods.
“You’re paying the price for (Harris’) liberal extremism at the gas station, at the grocery counter and on your mortgage bill,” Trump said in Asheville.
Nearly a month into the campaign, Harris has erased Trump’s lead over Biden in national and battleground state polls.
But Trump still maintains a long-term advantage over the Democrats in terms of which candidate voters think is best for the economy.
