She's firmly on Kiev's side, he promises an end to the war, but won't say how: what to expect from Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on this and other key issues if one or the other wins the presidential race?
Russia-Ukraine
Kamala Harris told the Democratic National Convention in August that she would stand firmly with Ukraine and the US's NATO allies. She accuses Russia of committing crimes against humanity. On the campaign website of the vice president, it is noted that she contributed to the organization of a global response of more than 50 countries to help Ukraine, so that it could defend itself from the brutal aggression of Vladimir Putin.
Former Republican President Donald Trump said he would “encourage" Russia to attack any NATO member that defaults on its financial obligations to the Alliance, instead of protecting “backward" member states. He later softened his stance somewhat, but also mentioned that he might leave NATO if the alliance's members did not increase their defense spending. The Republican also announced that if re-elected, he would like to end the war in Ukraine before taking office in January 2025. Specific details of how it intends to do this were not given. “I can't make these plans public because if I do, I won't be able to implement them - they won't work anymore."
Israel-Hamas
Just like President Joe Biden, Kamala Harris supports Israel in the war with Hamas and says the US will continue to help Israel defend its right to exist if she becomes president. But she has been more outspoken than Biden about the suffering in the Gaza Strip and emphasized more strongly that it must end. She is for a truce, for the release of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas, the group that the US and other countries designate as a terrorist group. Harris also advocates a two-state solution in the Middle East.
In April 2024, Trump said that Israel must quickly end its offensive in the Gaza Strip because it is "absolutely losing the war" as far as public opinion is concerned. He encouraged the country to “return to peace and stop killing people". However, Trump also said he was siding with Netanyahu, with whom he was closely associated during his presidency. In the televised debate, Trump stated that he would have ended this war “and quickly", and in this case he did not give details.
Abortions
Harris is a staunch defender of the right to abortion and promises as president that it will be written into national law, and not decided by individual states. Harris' website says that she and her running mate, Tim Walz, "believe that women should make their own decisions about their own bodies, not have the government tell them what to do.
Trump, for his part, is in exactly the opposite position. In 2020, he became the first sitting president to address a major anti-abortion rally in Washington. For him, Americans who are hostile to abortion are an important constituency. He supports the rights of individual states to make their own decisions in this area.
The economy
Harris made the demands of the middle class a central theme of his election campaign. She promises to create “an economy of opportunity in which everyone has the opportunity to establish themselves and be successful". Her website also says she wants lower taxes for more than 100 million working Americans and their middle-class relatives, as well as lower spending on everyday necessities like health care, housing and groceries. In addition, she wants to make rent more affordable to give Americans the opportunity to fulfill their dream of owning a home, and she wants to support small businesses.
According to Trump, Biden's high spending is to blame for inflation in the US. On his site it is noted that the “vision" his plan for the American economy includes “lower taxes, higher wages and more jobs". Trump has promised to extend the tax cuts introduced during his presidency, which many observers say benefit mostly businesses and wealthy households. He also wants less government regulation of the economy.
Migration
As Biden's vice president, Kamala Harris was tasked with immigration and border crossings, and was criticized by many for not doing enough to combat illegal immigration. If she becomes president, Harris has promised to sign the Border Security Act, rejected by congressional Republicans under pressure from Trump. The law calls for more technology to be used to detect drugs being transported across the border, as well as the hiring of 1,500 additional border guards.
Republicans blocked the bill on the grounds that it did not go far enough. And Trump, for his part, promised “the largest deportation action in the history of the United States", if elected. He wants to reinstate the strict immigration requirements that were in place during his tenure - for example, the ban on entry for citizens from certain predominantly Muslim countries such as Iran, Syria, Somalia and Yemen. He also wants to transfer thousands of troops now on overseas missions to the US-Mexico border.
The climate
Harris plans to hold polluters accountable to ensure clean air and clean water for all, she wrote on her campaign website. She would also like to increase the country's resilience against extreme natural phenomena and climate catastrophes, as well as build a “thriving economy with cleaner energy".
Trump, on the other hand, has vowed to stop subsidizing wind energy and boost oil drilling in the US - to achieve greater energy independence. His campaign website reads: “Republicans will boost energy production from all sources, including nuclear power, to reduce inflation immediately.
LGBTI rights
Twenty years ago, as San Francisco's district attorney, Harris performed some of the first same-sex marriages in the country. And now he announces on his website that he will fight for the legal registration of the rights of LGBTI people in all spheres - health care, housing and education. The Biden-Harris administration has blocked laws that harm transgender people in many states and reversed Trump's ban on them serving in the military.
Trump wants to roll back that ban. He rejects transgender rights and plans, if re-elected, to end all programs “that promote gender reassignment at any age". He also wants to exclude transgender women from competing in women's sports and to introduce a law that says male and female are the only genders recognized by the US government and that they must be assigned at birth.