The Biden/Harris presidency has been a disaster for the living standards of ordinary U.S. people and for progress internationally. Now Harris and Trump both promise to continue the same key international policies if elected President – any differences between them are purely on tactics and not aims.
Internationally, Biden/Harris’s policies are symbolised by its unswerving arming of Israel for its genocidal war in Gaza, and now its war against Lebanon and military attacks on Iran, against the opposition of the vast majority of the world’s population as clearly demonstrated in overwhelming UN votes and enormous international protests. Biden/Harris continued this policy even against their own electoral self-interest as it brought them into direct conflict with tens of millions of Americans who were sickened by Israel’s continuing massacres in Gaza. Harris continued this policy into the Democratic Convention which nominated her, banning even a single token Palestinian voice from being heard, and beyond. Trump has pledged that Israel should “finish what they started” in Gaza, while Trump’s Vice-Presidential candidate Vance called for Israel to be allowed to “prosecute this war the way they see fit”.
To develop aggressive policies against China, Biden/Harris created the AUKUS nuclear submarine military alliance with Australia and Britain, continued Trump’s policy of tariffs against China which cost the average U.S. household over $800 a year, and for the first time has established a U.S. military headquarters in Japan. Trump pledged to escalate this policy with a tariffs package that includes 60% on imports from China which, with the price rises it would cause, would cost the average middle income U.S. household approximately $2,600 a year. Beyond these economic policies U.S. military measures aimed at China include over 300 military bases in East Asia, provocative actions around Taiwan, which undermine the One China policy which has been the core of U.S.-China relations since their establishment of diplomatic relations almost 50 years ago, and U.S. military activity in the South China Sea – that is on the coast of China and 12,000 kilometres/7,500 miles from the US.. The U.S. has been further extending its provocative Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercises, increasingly drawing in states which have no connection with the Pacific whatever such as Israel.
The Biden/Harris administration’s continued policy of expanding NATO, against the promises made to Gorbachev at the time of German reunification, is the root cause in Ukraine of the largest war in Europe since 1945. The U.S./NATO is now giving support to military strikes inside a nuclear armed Russia posing an ultra-dangerous threat to peace. This war, in addition to hundreds of thousands of deaths, has struck huge economic blows against Europe and other countries. Instead of attempting to bring the war to an end Biden/Harris sent over $80 billion to Ukraine to pursue the war at the same time as the U.S. population’s real incomes were falling.
Trump’s aggressive foreign policies on Israel and China by themselves show the error of any view that he is an “isolationist”. During his first term Trump accelerated military sales, of more than $18 billion, to Taiwan. Trump as President withdrew from the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), creating the possibility of stationing such missiles in Asia, and made regular U.S. so called “freedom of navigation” exercises in the South China Sea. He has called for bombing of Iran’s nuclear programme – which could not be effectively carried out without direct U.S. military participation. Neither can the slightest trust be placed in Tump’s vague statements about peace in Ukraine. Trump could already have stopped U.S. military aid to the Ukraine war by opposing the latest Congressional Bill, granting $61 billion to Ukraine. The Republicans who control the U.S. House of Representatives would not have dared to vote for this Biden/Haris supported measure if Trump had opposed it. Instead, Trump deliberately remained silent, therefore ensuring the Bill’s passing.
Harris and Trump both pledge to continue to pursue the policy of illegal, unilateral sanctions against sixty percent of low income countries, including Cuba, which has faced an economic war for seventy years.
Domestically, real inflation adjusted U.S. wages have been continuously lower than when Biden/Harris assumed office – on the latest data they were still 1.5% below the time of their inauguration. But in direct contrast to the impact on ordinary Americans, the U.S. rich under Biden/Harris achieved huge increases in wealth. The combined wealth of U.S. billionaires rose from $4.6 trillion in April 2021 to $5.7 trillion by April 2024. The U.S. share market, measured by the S&P 500, is more than 40% higher than when Biden came to office.
In summary, the result of Biden/Harris’s economic policies was a massive transfer of income and wealth from average American workers to the rich. This is fundamental reason why Biden was so unpopular, long before his health issues became transparent, and had to be dumped by the Democrats. Those U.S. “liberals” who attempt to claim that Biden’s economic policies were a success, because of abstract GDP growth, were completely out of touch with the reality of Biden/Harris’s impact on the great mass of the U.S. population.
Harris is simply making an attempt to divert the attention of the U.S. electorate, during the short dash to the election, from the fact that she supported and pledges to continue all these policies of Biden both internationally and domestically.
Trump’s domestic policies are centred on an extension of tax cuts for the rich, tariffs which will raise prices for ordinary American’s, accompanied by a racist campaign against immigrants aimed to divert attention from these effects while pledging authoritarian measures and McCarthyite witch hunts against opponents of his domestic and international policies.
Both Harris and Trump refuse to support even the most elementary reforms that would release the resources to benefit ordinary Americans – such as reducing U.S. bloated military spending necessary to sustain its aggressive foreign policy, or the U.S. grotesquely inefficient health service which costs a higher proportion of its economy and delivers lower life expectancy than any other major advanced economy.
With such policies it is certain that whether Harris or Trump is elected U.S. President they will continue their interrelated policies of aggression internationally and attacks on the US population domestically to finance and sustain this. That is, whether Harris or Trump is elected President U.S. policies of cold, and increasingly hot, wars, will therefore continue and intensify. No Cold War therefore will continue to seek to extend cooperation and dialogue with all those internationally and inside the U.S. who, whatever their difference on other issues, oppose the great threats to humanity that such aggressive U.S. policies represent.