Exclusive: U.S. Chamber tells politicians to put economic growth at top of agenda
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Graphic: U.S. Chamber of Commerce
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is launching a new agenda on Thursday, telling politicians that economic growth should be the top issue in the 2024 election and beyond.
Why it matters: The influential business group is telling elected officials to prioritize economic policies that could return U.S. economic growth to the 3%+ rates that prevailed in the second half of the 20th century—not the sub-2% growth economists project for the decades ahead.
The big picture: From the 1950s through 2010, demographic tailwinds supported rapid growth, as Baby Boomers entered the primes of their careers and more women joined the workforce.
- Now, Boomers are retiring. Women's labor force participation is already at an all-time high, so may not have further to rise. And the outlook for future immigration rates is uncertain.
What they're saying: "When you have the type of tailwinds that we had from 1950 to 2010, you can sometimes get policy wrong and still have a pretty good, growing economy," Suzanne Clark, president and CEO of the Chamber, tells Axios.
- "We're in a place now where we don't have those tailwinds anymore. In some instances, they become headwinds," Clark added.
- In an op-ed for USA Today, Clark writes that the U.S. has a mature economy — increasingly service driven — and demographics are not on our side."
- Clark tells Axios that business leaders are "frustrated with elected officials who don't want to meet them with solutions."
Between the lines: Business leaders see hazards ahead, no matter the outcome of the November election.
- A second Biden administration would continue regulatory policies businesses see as anti-growth and seek to allow many business-favorable Trump tax cuts to expire.
- A second Trump administration would likely implement costly tariffs and enact immigration policies that reduce labor supply.
On immigration, the Chamber wants to tighten border security while speeding up the process for authorized immigrants to work in the U.S.
- Clark says AI has "vast potential to jump-start innovation" — and politicians should support sharing that technology with other nations.
- The Chamber supports extending Trump-era tax cuts that expire in 2025 — with particular emphasis on provisions it sees as pro-growth, including favorable tax treatment of R&D spending.
What's next: The Chamber will release a series of memos on issues they see as central to this goal — including AI, affordable childcare and tax policy — in the months leading up to the election.
The bottom line: Clark wouldn't say which presidential candidate is most likely to support the policies outlined in the new agenda.
- Neil Bradley — Clark's deputy at the Chamber, and chief policy officer — tells Axios: "There are things that each candidate has right, and there are things that each candidate has wrong."
Go deeper: Read the new agenda.
