Former U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris has accused President Donald Trump of abandoning America’s ideals, dismissing Mr Trump’s push for tariffs as inviting recession.

In a speech since leaving office in January at a gala event for Emerge America in San Francisco on Wednesday, Ms Harris criticised Mr Trump’s government as it marked 100 days in office amid a report on the shrinking economy.

“Instead of an administration working to advance America’s highest ideals, we are witnessing the wholesale abandonment of those ideals,” Ms Harris said. “A vessel is being used for the swift implementation of an agenda that has been decades in the making. An agenda to slash public education. An agenda to shrink government and then privatise its services all while giving tax breaks to the wealthiest among us.” 

Ms Harris, who Mr Trump defeated in the November presidential election, warned that the U.S. president’s tariff policy is inviting recession upon America.

“Some people are describing what’s been happening in recent months as absolute chaos. And, of course, I understand why. It’s certainly true of those tariffs. Tariffs that — as I predicted — are clearly inviting a recession,” Ms Harris said.

She closed her speech, saying, “This country is ours. It doesn’t belong to whoever is in the White House. It belongs to you. It belongs to us. It belongs to ‘We the People’.”

In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, Mr Trump called for patience because he inherited the shrinking economy from his predecessor, Joe Biden.

“This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s. I didn’t take over until January 20th. Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers,” Mr Trump said.

He claimed America “will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden ‘Overhang'”. 

“This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other,” stated Mr Trump in his post. “BE PATIENT!!!”