What are JD Vance’s plans for the economy?

Lower taxes

If Trump wins in November, Vance is likely to join the GOP push for aggressive tax cuts. Trump is promising to extend parts of his 2017 tax law that are set to expire next year, and Vance is likely to support that effort. He also signed a pledge from Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, oppose “any” tax increases.

Still, Vance has taken some steps to suggest a break with GOP orthodoxy on taxes. Earlier this year, he introduced a bill to curb large corporate mergers by targeting a tax break for companies with combined annual revenues of more than $500 million. He also introduced a bill to tax large university endowments.

More surprisingly, Vance called for tax increases on corporations in 2021 after some business leaders planned to respond to GOP changes to state election laws, a stance that surprised many business executives and GOP donors who wanted Trump to choose Republican Gov. Doug Burgum (N.D.) or Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) as his vice presidential running mate.

Higher tariffs

Vance has distinguished himself as a staunch defender of Trump’s aggressive trade proposals, even more so than other vice presidential candidates.

Vance has cited protective trade barriers as essential to reorienting the U.S. economy, which he said had become too reliant on services and finance at the expense of manufacturing and heavy industry. In 2021, Vance and Bob Lighthizer, Trump’s top trade adviser, published an op-ed advocating tougher trade measures against China, slamming U.S. companies for exploiting “cheap labor overseas.” Vance has defended Trump’s plan to propose tariffs of up to 10 percent on all U.S. trading partners, despite a consensus among economists that such a measure would raise costs for consumers.

“If you put tariffs on it, what you’re really saying is we’re going to punish you for using slave labor in China and importing it into the United States,” Vance told CBS News. “What you’re going to do is make more stuff in America, in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan.”

More stringent antitrust regulations

The Biden administration has taken decisive steps to tighten antitrust regulations and crack down on corporate mergers. And it has found a rare Republican ally in Vance.

He has expressed support for Lina Khan, President Biden’s Federal Trade Commission commissioner, and her work to curb the power of big tech companies. Khan, meanwhile, has been repeatedly criticized by the Republican Party for overusing the FTC’s authority.

“The fundamental question for me is how do we build a competitive marketplace that encourages innovation and competition, that allows consumers to make good choices, and that is not so focused on pricing power in the marketplace that it ignores all the other things that really matter,” Vance said at Bloomberg’s RemedyFest technology forum in March.

Tighter border controls

Vance has spoken of rigorous immigration reform as key to protecting U.S. security and jobs, especially for U.S.-born workers.

The job market has been growing rapidly since Biden took office, with employers adding hundreds of thousands of jobs each month. But Vance said many of those jobs are going to undocumented workers “while American workers struggle to feed their families and buy homes.” Speaking on Fox News in April, he said Trump’s economy prioritize higher wages and better jobs for American workers.

Last year, Vance introduced a bill aimed at combating visa overstayers. The bill, called the Timely Departure Act, would require some foreigners trying to enter the United States on temporary visas to pay thousands of dollars in deposits. The money would be returned to those who leave on time. And for those who overstay, the money would be redirected to the Department of Homeland Security to help cover the costs of detention and deportation.

During his 2022 Senate campaign, Vance promised to oppose “any attempt by Democrats to grant amnesty, complete the border wall and double the number of border patrol agents.

“You see a labor shortage. Instead of bringing in a lot of new immigrants, why not try to raise wages in a way that will draw some of those workers away from the fringe jobs?” Vance told Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome H. Powell at a hearing last week. “From my perspective, that seems like a much better approach.”

Many business leaders fear the repercussions of a major crackdown on immigration on the overall labor market, especially in key industries like agriculture and construction that rely heavily on immigrant labor and continue to struggle with labor shortages in the wake of the pandemic.

Support for trade unions

Vance hints at breaking with hardline Republicans opposes organized labor, although it also opposes measures that many union leaders say are necessary to revitalize union membership.

In 2020, Vance said he was “not a big fan” of right-to-work laws, which drastically restrict unions’ ability to organize. (He also claimed those restrictions were not the cause of U.S. manufacturing job losses.) In October, Vance also went to a United Auto Workers picket line during a strike against major automakers, in a show of support for labor action unusual for GOP lawmakers. Biden and several Democratic lawmakers also went to the union’s picket line, as did Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), a close ally of Vance.

“In 2007, 2008, (auto workers) took lower wages when the auto industry really needed help,” Vance said, echoing Democratic rhetoric on the issue. “And now the auto industry is doing very well and is posting record profits.”

Still, Vance is a traditional Republican in other ways. For example, he opposes the PRO Act, which would make it much easier for American workers to unionize, a priority for union organizers, according to Insider.