President Biden said on Tuesday that President-elect Donald J. Trump’s plans to impose tax cuts for the wealthy and sweeping tariffs would be “a major mistake,” while warning that the incoming president would face blowback from Republicans if he moved to unwind the Biden agenda.
During what the White House billed as a “legacy speech,” Mr. Biden for nearly 40 minutes defended his proposals to reshape American manufacturing and cautioned that Mr. Trump’s economic vision would hurt working-class Americans.
“He seems determined to impose steep, universal tariffs on all important goods brought into this country on the mistaken belief that foreign countries will bear the cost of those tariffs, rather than the American consumer,” Mr. Biden said at the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit think tank.
Since Mr. Trump’s election win last month, Mr. Biden has gone relatively quiet with his attacks on his political rival in what White House aides say is an intentional effort to focus on a peaceful transfer of power. But as Mr. Trump finalizes plans for his new administration, Mr. Biden went on the offensive against his policy proposals.
Mr. Biden scoffed at Mr. Trump’s failure to pass an infrastructure package and warned that his tax cuts would increase the deficit or cut federal social services programs. He mocked Mr. Trump’s handling of the pandemic and accused him of embracing Project 2025, a right-wing policy blueprint to expand executive power and replace civil servants.
Mr. Trump had tried to distance himself from the plans to overhaul the federal government during the presidential campaign, despite the fact that many of his former aides developed the proposals and he has recruited key architects of the project to his new administration.
“I pray to God the president throws away Project 2025,” Mr. Biden said.
Mr. Trump has only doubled down on his comment to impose sweeping tariffs, saying they are “beautiful” and make Americans rich. During an interview on “Meet the Press” this weekend, he did acknowledge that he could not guarantee Americans would not pay more as a result of the tariffs. Economists overwhelmingly agree that the costs of tariffs are passed on to consumers.
“President Trump has promised tariff policies that protect the American manufacturers and working men and women from the unfair practices of foreign companies and foreign markets,” Brian Hughes, a spokesman for Mr. Trump’s transition team, said in a statement. “He will implement economic and trade policies to make life affordable and more prosperous for our nation.”
But while Mr. Biden used the moment to issue a dire warning about Mr. Trump, he was also self-deprecating during a period of reflection for the Democratic Party.
He acknowledged that voters did not credit him for his economic policies, including a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package he signed shortly after coming into office to help the country rebound from the pandemic. Some Americans would go on to blame the law, which included direct checks to individuals, for helping to fuel rapid inflation — a top concern for voters going into the presidential election.
“I know it’s been hard for many Americans to see and I understand it — you’re just trying to figure out how to put three squares on the table,” Mr. Biden said. “But I believe it was the right thing to do. Not only did it lift America out of an economic crisis caused by a pandemic but set America on a stronger course for the future.”
Mr. Biden, whose voice grew increasingly hoarse as he coughed throughout the remarks, acknowledged he had something to learn from Mr. Trump when it came to branding. He credited the former president for signing his name on stimulus checks during the pandemic to get credit for the relief.
“He signed checks for people,” Mr. Biden said. “I didn’t — stupid.”
Mr. Biden’s chief economist, Jared Bernstein, later told reporters that the president was “kidding.”
But a month after the election, Mr. Biden appeared to be speaking less to the electorate and more to the historians. He promised that Americans would begin to feel the effect of his federal investments in infrastructure, clean energy and semiconductor manufacturing in the years to come.
In a last-ditch attempt to salvage his agenda, Mr. Biden also noted that most of the federal investments have benefited districts led by Mr. Trump’s party. That includes the Inflation Reduction Act, Mr. Biden’s clean energy bill that Mr. Trump has threatened to gut.
“He’s going to have a bunch of red-state senators that opposed all of it and didn’t vote for it deciding it’s very much in their interest,” Mr. Biden said.
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