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on the evening of september 10th local time, former us president and republican presidential candidate trump and us vice president and democratic presidential candidate harris participated in a televised debate hosted by the american broadcasting corporation (abc) in philadelphia. the two sides began the debate after shaking hands and talked about a number of policies including economy, immigration, and abortion.

the economy was the first topic of the two sides' discussion. at the beginning of the discussion, harris called trump's proposal to impose tariffs on overseas goods "trump sales tax", saying that it would ultimately be paid by american middle-class families. harris talked about her focus on the middle class, promoting child tax credits and her small business plan, while criticizing trump's desire to cut taxes for corporations and billionaires again. trump responded, "first of all, i don't have a sales tax. that's not true." trump directly mentioned china and reiterated that he would impose tariffs on china and other countries. he also criticized harris and biden for pushing up inflation.

the topic then came to abortion and reproductive rights, which is also a key issue in the 2024 campaign. harris said that after the overturn of roe v. wade, the biden-harris administration took a leading role in advocating for abortion rights. harris criticized the "trump abortion ban," saying that "trump should not dictate to women's bodies." trump said that the democrats are radical in this regard. but he will not sign a national abortion ban and said harris is making "lies" again. "this is an issue that tears our country apart," trump said, and the issue should be returned to the states to resolve.

the debate then shifted to the topic of immigration. harris said that immigration legislation by both parties was undermined in congress due to trump's lobbying of republicans. trump accused democrats of supporting "open borders," saying that immigrants were "taking over" american cities and towns, and that the actual number of illegal immigrants was "much higher" than the published data, and that "the crime rate is rising."

during the debate, trump was asked about the election four years ago and the "capitol hill riots". trump said that apart from giving a speech, "i have nothing to do with this matter." he also refused to admit that he lost the 2020 presidential election, saying that his remarks such as "losing by a hair's breadth" were ironic, and continued to reiterate his false claims about election fraud. harris said, "we can't afford a president who will subvert the will of the voters." she called on voters, "it's time to turn the page. let's not go back."

the israeli-palestinian conflict and the russian-ukrainian conflict were also topics of debate between the two sides. speaking of the israeli-palestinian conflict, harris said she would defend israel's right to self-defense, but at the same time she lost patience with the humanitarian problems caused by the israeli netanyahu government in gaza. trump continued to attack harris, "she hates israel," trump said, "she hates arabs too." harris responded that trump was trying to divide and distract voters.

regarding the russia-ukraine conflict, trump was asked "whether he wants ukraine to win". trump said he hopes the war will end, which is in the interests of the united states. trump said that if he is elected, he will let putin and zelensky come together to reach an agreement. he also complained that the amount of us military aid to ukraine is too much. harris retorted that if trump was president, "putin would be sitting in kiev now." harris said she believed trump and the republicans would abandon ukraine in exchange for putin's favor.

in addition, the issue of afghanistan was also mentioned in the debate between the two sides. trump criticized the biden administration's handling of the us withdrawal from afghanistan, saying "they messed it up." harris said, "four presidents said they would (end the war in afghanistan), and joe biden did it." she said she agreed with biden's decision to withdraw troops from afghanistan, so americans would not spend $300 million a day on the war. she reminded voters that when trump was in power, he once planned to invite taliban representatives to camp david for talks. "where is our president?" trump suddenly mentioned biden's withdrawal from the election during the debate. harris then retorted, "you are not against joe biden," she said, "your opponent is me."

the two sides also discussed topics related to clean energy. harris elaborated on the biden administration's climate agenda as a pillar of the government's economic strategy, but did not provide many details of her own policies. trump accused harris of "fossil fuels will die" if she was elected, and then said he was a "super fan" of solar energy. on the other hand, trump expressed his hope to repeal the inflation reduction act that emphasizes the clean energy industry and recover unused funds, and promised to declare a national energy emergency after being elected to increase the united states' oil and gas production and "achieve a substantial increase in domestic energy supply."

at the end of the debate, trump said that biden and harris were "the worst president and vice president in the history of our country," saying that their three and a half years of achievements were worthless; and harris, after mentioning that the two visions facing the united states are "focusing on the future" and "going back to the past," ended the debate with her familiar campaign words "we will not go back."