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Vice President Kamala Harris has focused her economic plan on building what she calls an “Opportunity Economy,” but in many ways, it’s a continuation of the current administration’s strategy. Bidenomics is rooted in a belief that the best way to grow the economy is from the middle out and the bottom up. But it has also been a sweeping foray into industrial policy and protectionism, with the administration prioritizing domestic manufacturing and bringing jobs back home.
Heather Boushey, an economic advisor to President Joe Biden, launched a spirited defense of the strategy in an interview on FP Live last year. “The United States took a historic step that the world had long asked us to take—to build a clean energy economy,” Boushey said, addressing criticism of provisions in the CHIPS and Science Act that encourage protectionism. “We did it in a way that worked for us politically.”
But economists warn that industrial policy could spark a subsidies race and that protectionism can backfire. Is Bidenomics trying to do too much by tying investments in semiconductor fabrication plants to, for example, the building of day care facilities? “We’re encouraging businesses to follow best-in-class practices,” Boushey countered.
And the United States isn’t looking to stop trade with China. “We are looking to de-risk that relationship,” she said. “But as we think about our trade policies, we have to think about what that means for American workers and American communities.”
Read an edited transcript of the conversation here: Is Bidenomics Trying to Do Too Much?
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