Harris lambasts Trump, calls tariffs 'reckless' as she returns to the national stage

Former US Vice President Kamala Harris assailed US President Donald Trump over the economy and democracy as she returned to the national stage. Taking potshots at Trump’s tariff policies, Harris called the POTUS “reckless” and accused his administration of “inviting recession”.

“It’s an agenda, a narrow, self-serving vision of America where they punish truth-tellers, favour loyalists, cash in on their power and leave everyone to fend for themselves,” she said Wednesday night. “All while abandoning allies and retreating from the world," she added. The address came just hours after it was revealed that the American economy shrank by 0.3 per cent in the first quarter of the year.

This marked a reversal of the growth the US economy was witnessing for the last three years. In her address, Harris referred to the Trump tariffs as the “greatest man-made economic crisis in modern presidential history,” blaming his policies for the rising cost of household goods, shrinking retirement accounts and a tightening job market.

Interesting timing

Harris addressed a room full of donors in San Francisco on the day the Trump administration completed 100 days in the White House. The city was where the former VP started her political career two decades ago. This was Harris’s second public appearance within a week as she mulls whether to run for the Governorship of the state of California next year.

There have been speculations that Harris’s team are also vying to run again in 2028, however, there is no confirmation in this regard. Harris’s speech was predominantly targeting Trump, with the former VP accusing Trump of not meaningfully improving the lives of everyday people. She also laid out her vision for the Democratic Party’s future and even dropped hints about her own political path.

Harris was speaking at the gilded ballroom at the Palace Hotel in downtown San Francisco. She was the keynote speaker at the gala hosted by Emerge America candidate training program that backs Democratic women. She called on Democrats to lock arms in opposing what she referred to as the president’s “unconstitutional power grab”.

“They are counting on the notion that if they can make some people afraid, it will have a chilling effect on others. What they’ve overlooked is that fear isn’t the only thing that’s contagious. Courage is contagious," she said, taking jabs at the Republican party. Harris emphasised that the country is entering a “constitutional crisis” and warned that “the checks and balances on which we have historically relied are beginning to buckle.”

With inputs from agencies.