Former President Donald Trump tried, somewhat reluctantly, to pivot his campaign Wednesday from hurling personal insults against Vice President Kamala Harris to criticizing her economic record on scourges such as inflation, even as the White House claimed progress on the economy.
Campaigning in North Carolina, Mr. Trump said everyday prices, the cost of auto insurance and credit card debt have exploded and the country will never recover if Democrats get another four years in the White House.
“We will rapidly drive prices down and make America affordable again,” Mr. Trump said in Asheville, North Carolina, in front of a sign that said, “No Tax on Tips.” “We will bring back the American dream bigger, better and stronger than ever before.”
Consumer prices rose 0.2% from June to July, the government reported Wednesday. Year over year, the increase was 2.9% — the lowest level since March 2021. The ease in inflation is expected to spur the Federal Reserve to begin lowering interest rates at its rate-setting meeting next month.
The Biden-Harris administration says cooling price pressures show their economic agenda is paying off. Even though the pace of increases is easing, consumers are contending with prices that shot up after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and remain more than 20% higher than when Mr. Biden took office. Costs have become a central theme this election year.
“We have more work to do to lower costs for hardworking Americans, but we are making real progress, with wages rising faster than prices for 17 months in a row,” President Biden said.
Mr. Trump said Ms. Harris, as the president’s chief deputy, is also responsible for the pain. He said the vice president delivered tiebreaking Senate votes on government spending that fueled inflation and she copied Mr. Trump’s campaign idea to repeal taxes on tipped wages.
“Is anything less expensive under Kamala Harris and Crooked Joe?” Mr. Trump asked the crowd.
“No!” supporters shouted back.
Mr. Trump said he would resume widespread oil drilling, notably in Alaska, allow fracking to continue to help bring down fuel prices and rescind wasteful funding from the current administration.
He said he would eliminate mandates around electric vehicles and extend the signature tax cuts he spearheaded in 2017.
Mr. Trump’s focus on pocketbook issues is part of an effort to halt Ms. Harris’ honeymoon period since Mr. Biden, 81, dropped out of the race on July 21.
For days, the former president seemed to stick with personal attacks as Ms. Harris surged ahead in polling and received media attention from the selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.
Mr. Trump used a recent press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to suggest his crowd on Jan. 6, 2021, was larger than the one that listened to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963. Days earlier, he raised eyebrows at the annual National Association of Black Journalists convention by questioning whether Ms. Harris “became a Black person” after identifying as Indian American. Ms. Harris has a Jamaican father and a South Asian mother.
Mr. Trump has reset his rhetoric by pivoting to attacks on Ms. Harris’ policy record instead of her persona. He is focusing on the vice president’s “radical” agenda in California, positions on health care benefits for illegal immigrants and support for the Green New Deal.
On Monday, Mr. Trump held a two-hour discussion with X CEO Elon Musk that meandered through policy issues such as immigration, foreign policy, education and climate change.
In Asheville, Mr. Trump offered a mix of message discipline and his old habits. He slammed Ms. Harris’ record in California while comparing her laugh to that of a “crazy person.”
“How’s San Francisco doing? Not like North Carolina,” Mr. Trump said. “We’re leading. Let them have their convention, and who knows how that’s going to turn out? Joe Biden is a very angry man.”
The Democratic National Convention opens in Chicago on Monday.
Analysts say it will be difficult for Mr. Trump to stick to the issues.
“The entry of an entirely new and unexpected rival robbed Trump of themes and messages that he had readied to use against Biden. He is now at work trying to build a car while it’s moving,” said Ross Baker, a politics professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey. “In a perfect world with a perfect candidate, you would have paused, ever so briefly, to consider new themes and attack lines and overhauled the themes that were no longer relevant. But a pit stop is impossible for someone like Trump, who needs always to be at and above the speed limit.”
Mr. Trump seemed to muse aloud about whether he needed to stick to the script and focus on the economy.
“We’re doing this as an intellectual speech. You’re all intellectuals today,” Mr. Trump said. “They say it’s the most important subject. I’m not sure it is.”
Sen. Rick Scott, Florida Republican, pointed Wednesday to data showing that eggs cost over 19% more than a year ago, butter prices are up 6% and rent and electricity rates have increased by 5% each.
“It can feel like digging a hole too deep to climb out of. I am always optimistic about the future of America and our ability to save the American dream, but we need new leadership that will end the reckless spending and dangerous socialist policies that got us into this mess and are now crushing hardworking Americans every single day,” the senator said.
Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris are scheduled to address high costs during a trip to Maryland on Thursday. It is their first major appearance together since Mr. Biden dropped his reelection bid and endorsed Ms. Harris to lead the Democratic ticket.
They have acknowledged that prices remain high but say they are doing something about it, such as taking on fees that show up in travel costs and forcing drugmakers to negotiate down the costs of pricey drugs in Medicare’s prescription program.
On Friday, Ms. Harris is scheduled to follow the Maryland trip with a campaign stop in Raleigh, North Carolina, to give a speech on lowering costs and combating “corporate price gouging.”
The Harris campaign says Mr. Trump’s agenda would fail to hold companies accountable for high prices and benefit the wealthy. It also says Mr. Trump’s love of tariffs would raise the costs of consumer goods.
“Inflation is at its lowest in over three years, and our economy is strong,” said Harris campaign spokesman Joseph Costello. “Donald Trump’s agenda would take us backwards, giving tax handouts to the same big corporations that are price gouging Americans while raising prices on the middle class by $2,500 and driving our economy into a recession.”
