Joe Biden touts 'Buy American' as he picks populist economic message for election
Joe Biden has announced a new “Buy American” economic approach and pledged $700 billion in investment commitments as he looks to erode Donald Trump’s poll lead on handling the US economy.
The presumptive Democratic nominee for November’s presidential election chose a metal works near his childhood hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, as the site for a speech heavy on policy to rebuild the economy.
Mr Biden proposed $400 billion more in government purchasing of US-based goods and services and $300 billion in new research and development in US technology firms, as well as tightening rules on what products could be stamped with "made in America".
He also repeatedly drew contrasts between his approach and that of Mr Trump, framing the US president as out of touch with middle America and too willing to help the wealthiest in the country.
“His failures come with a terrible human cost and a deep economic toll,” Mr Biden said of Mr Trump at one point. He added: “Time and again, working families are paying the price for this administration’s incompetence.”
With less than four months to go until the election, the speech amounted to an attempt by Mr Biden to challenge Mr Trump on ground which has traditionally been seen as his political strength.
Mr Trump’s image as a successful businessman, shaped by years of multimillion-dollar property deals and Apprentice episodes, helped sweep him to power in the 2016 election.
Even after the booming economy tanked with lockdowns from the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year, Mr Trump is still more trusted to lead the recovery than Mr Biden, according to polls of voters.
Mr Biden’s speech shared at least echoes of Mr Trump’s ‘America First’ rhetoric, reflecting how widely a patriotic, populist economic message is now seen to resonate with Americans.
The former US vice president attempted to frame Mr Trump as out of touch, comparing his own middle class upbringing with the president’s childhood in a rich New York household.
He also pointed to the boost Mr Trump’s vast tax cut and Covid-19 bail-out money gave to big corporations and rich Americans, claiming they benefited more than everyday voters.
“When the federal government spends taxpayers’ money, we should use it to buy American products and support American jobs," Mr Biden said at one point.
At another he said: “I do not buy for one second that the vitality of American manufacturing is a thing of the past."
Mr Trump's narrow defeat of Hillary Clinton in 2016 was in part thanks to winning over blue collar workers in the so-called ‘Rust Belt’ states of the Midwest, a nickname earned as heavy industrial areas fell into decline.
Many of those voters were traditionally Democratic but switched allegiance after decades of voting blue - a phenomenon not dissimilar to Boris Johnson’s success at winning over traditional Labour heartlands in the northeast of England in the December 2019 election.
Some political strategists believe that if Mr Biden can win back a chunk of those voters in the Rust Belt, which includes swing states like Pennsylvania, then he can secure victory on Nov 3 - now less than 130 days away.
For Mr Trump, the political situation looks daunting, despite incumbent US presidents in modern times usually winning a second term.
The triple whammy of pandemic, recession and social unrest has upended his re-election plans. He is around nine points behind Mr Biden in nationwide polls.
With daily coronavirus case numbers surging in America as it falls away in Europe, Mr Trump’s handling is being panned by the public.
Just 33 per cent of US voters approve of his handling of the virus, according to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll, down from 55 per cent when Covid-19 first soared in the country in mid-March.
Mr Trump has attempted to return to his trademark mass rallies, but a recent comeback one in Tulsa, Oklahoma, saw a stadium not even half full and criticism for risking the virus’s spread.
The US president was due to hold another rally in New Hampshire on Saturday, but on Friday it was cancelled for safety reasons due to the approaching Tropical Storm Fay.
