What Does the Official 2024 Democratic Party Platform Say about Manufacturing and Trade

Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to be officially named as the Democratic nominee for president this week in Chicago. Photo by The White House

We took a look at the Republican platform earlier this summer. Now, we are examining what Democrats are aiming to do.

The Democratic National Convention kicks off Monday in Chicago, a four-day event in which the party will present their case to the American people for electing Vice President Kamala Harris as the next President of the United States.

Ahead of the convention, we're examining the official Democratic Party Platform to see where Democrats stand on various manufacturing issues. A reminder that this isn't an endorsement: As a nonpartisan organization, we are dedicated to working with both parties to advance public policy that strengthens manufacturing and creates well-paid factory jobs. We also took a deep dive into the GOP platform back in July.

The Democrats' version is much longer than Republicans, coming in at 91 pages compared to the GOP's 16 pages. Despite being released publicly just on Sunday, it's already dated, as the party officially approved it on July 16 - back when President Biden was still the party's nominee. So, there's a bunch of references to Biden's "second term," for example. And most of the document focuses on Biden's achievements specifically. In her role as vice president, Harris is likely to have been involved in a lot of this work, but it's also likely she would change at least some things up if she's elected to the top job.

Regardless, the document is the Democratic party's official policy platform, so it's worth paying attention to, especially because it does include a strong emphasis on manufacturing issues. In fact, both infrastructure investment and manufacturing growth appear right at the start of Chapter One in the document, which focuses on the economy.

On manufacturing specifically, the party touts some of the current administration's achievements:

Democrats are also taking historic steps to bring home critical supply chains, and to reaffirm our nation's leadership in cutting-edge industries that America in fact often pioneered. After the pandemic exposed our reliance on foreign-made semiconductors, we passed the CHIPS and Science Act, to restore America's role producing the tiny computer chips needed to make everything from cell phones to dishwashers to cars. And as the climate crisis makes the shift to clean energy more urgent, we passed the Inflation Reduction Act, making the world's biggest investment ever in building renewable energy, electric vehicles, and other green technologies here at home.

The President's Investing in America agenda has incentivized a historic $877 billion in private funding across the United States to date. Companies are investing hundreds of billions more than under Trump to build new factories. In fact, under President Biden, more than a dozen states have seen the largest private sector investments in their history. We've designated more than 30 tech hubs in communities from Reno, Nevada; to Charlotte, North Carolina; to North Central Pennsylvania. And we've made sure that lower-income counties see a larger share of investment. Today, instead of exporting American jobs for cheaper labor, we're creating American jobs and exporting products, leaving no one behind.

The Democratic platform also points to the creation of "nearly 800,000 new manufacturing jobs, and 880,000 more jobs in construction, building the roads, factories, and dreams of our future." The party also argues that the administration has worked to strengthen Buy America provisions:

President Biden's agenda requires that any federally-financed infrastructure job must include wage and labor protections. And we're making sure that these projects use American-made goods, by strengthening "Buy American" procurement rules to their toughest level in seven decades. That means every federally funded infrastructure project is being built with American-made steel, lumber, drywall, concrete, and other products, by American workers. And the Administration has taken historic steps to ensure that these workers are paid prevailing wages, with the free and fair choice to join a union; and to incentivize project labor agreements.

In Chapter Four of the platform, the party focuses on energy and climate change, arguing that the Biden administration has "unleashed a clean energy boom that's slashing pollution, lowering energy costs, and has already created over 300,000 good-paying American clean energy jobs." That includes significant investment in manufacturing, the party argues.

"President Biden's Investing in America agenda makes the largest clean-energy investment in history; and it has already attracted over $400 billion in private sector commitments, to develop and manufacture solar, wind, battery, and other clean technologies here at home," the document states. "Today, 585 new clean energy manufacturing projects are underway - not just on the coasts, but in 47 states, including in places too often left behind. Some 81 percent of the investments made since our landmark climate law passed are going to counties with below-average weekly wages."

The Democrats again point to Buy America in this section of the document, noting that Biden's agenda "includes extended Buy Clean and Buy America standards, requiring federal projects to use low-carbon, American-made cement, steel, and other materials; and providing credits for private companies to do the same, creating more American jobs."

While Democrats reaffirm their party's commitment to manufacturing investment throughout the document, the DNC platform doesn't touch on trade policy specifically until late in the document. In fact, foreign policy as a whole doesn't come up until Chapter Nine (page 77 for those keeping track), and that section spends most of its time on the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

But there are trade-focused positions in the platform. The document touts Biden's stance on China, noting that the current president "has maintained a steadfast commitment to being tough but smart towards the PRC." The platform continues:

We will make no apology in pushing back on unfair trade practices that harm American workers. And we will guard against China taking advantage of America's openness to use U.S. technologies against America, our allies, and our interests. Against this backdrop, we seek to "de-risk" and diversify the economic relationship between our countries, not decouple. We will protect a targeted number of sensitive technologies with focused restrictions, creating a "small yard and a high fence" that preserves our national security.

President Biden has taken decisive action to counter unfair economic practices by the PRC and level the playing field for American workers, strategically increasing tariffs on a variety of products such as steel and aluminum, semiconductors, electric vehicles, batteries, critical minerals, solar cells, ship-to-shore cranes, and medical products.

Democrats are critical of former President and current Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump's plan to issue baseline tariffs, including a 60% tariff on Chinese imports. "Trump's temper tantrums have harmed our alliances, and if he is elected, will hurt the American people," the party writes.

"Under President Biden, the United States is championing a modern industrial and innovation strategy, both domestically and with international partners," the DNC platform states. "That strategy is focused on bolstering our economic and technological strengths, promoting diverse and resilient global supply chains, and setting high standards for labor, environmental practices, trusted technology, and good governance. It also aims to channel capital towards delivering public goods such as climate solutions and healthcare advancements."

It's worth repeating that this platform was written and approved when Biden was the nominee - it is entirely possible that Harris will seek to change some of these positions should she be elected. Or, she may focus on a different set of policy priorities, giving less emphasis to things Biden championed. But at the same time, it's hard to see the party moving ahead with it if Harris didn't at least broadly agree with the points made in the document.

In any case, it's clear from both the Republican and Democratic party platforms that manufacturing issues will remain a part of the policy discussion throughout the campaign, as they should. We'll keep a close eye on what both candidates have to say in the weeks ahead.

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