Democratic candidate Kamala Harris has promised to “bring down costs and increase economic security for all Americans” in one of her first major policy speeches in the United States presidential campaign.

The US vice president, who secured the Democratic nomination after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race last month, put forward a set of proposals on Friday that she said would help boost the economy and combat food “price gouging”.

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“I will be laser-focused on creating opportunities for the middle class,” Harris told a crowd of supporters in North Carolina. “Together, we will build what I call an opportunity economy.”

The plan includes an effort to end so-called price hikes on groceries, with Harris saying she would seek to pass a “first-ever federal ban” on the practice. She also proposed a scheme to provide $25,000 in support for some first-time homebuyers, as well as tax incentives for affordable home builders.

Moreover, Harris backed a $6,000 tax credit for children in their first year of life and an earned tax credit to cover people in lower-income jobs without children. She also renewed Biden’s pledge to lower the price of prescription medications.

The speech on Friday comes as the campaign of former President Donald Trump has sought to hone in on the economy in its attacks on Harris. The Republican candidate has dubbed Harris “a radical California liberal who broke the economy”.

Trump delivered his own vision of the economy in North Carolina earlier this week, making sweeping promises to “defeat inflation”, end “job-killing regulations” and usher in a level of economic abundance that will “pay off all our debt”.

Trump’s 75-minute speech on Wednesday often devolved into other subjects, including criticisms of Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race and tangents on Harris’s laugh.

Polls have shown that voters are more likely to trust Trump with the economy than Harris.

An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that 45 percent of respondents felt Trump is better positioned to handle the economy, while 38 percent said the same about Harris.

About one in 10 voters said they trusted neither Harris nor Trump to better handle the economy.

The duelling speeches come as the US economy continues to suffer from high prices in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even as year-over-year inflation has reached its lowest level in more than three years, food prices remain at 21 percent above their level from that period. Rental and other housing costs have also continued to rise. Some economists have also warned of an impending recession.

Harris unveiled her plan amid a battleground state blitz, in which she has sought to capitalise on the enthusiasm that accompanied her abrupt entry into the race.

She was officially nominated by the Democratic Party in a virtual roll call earlier this month, and next week, she will formally accept the nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Biden, 81, had been the presumptive Democratic candidate until last month, when he withdrew from the race after a disastrous debate performance against Trump that exacerbated concerns about his age.