PENNSYLVANIA 10 Jul (ANA) - Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden has laid out his rescue plan for the coronavirus-crippled US economy, while berating President Donald Trump as incompetent.

 

Mr Biden said his $700bn (£560bn) plan would be the biggest investment in the US economy since World War Two.

 

The "Build Back Better" agenda, he said, would spur a manufacturing and technology jobs boom.

 

The Trump campaign responded that the plan would inflict "catastrophe".

 

Mr Biden is all but guaranteed to face off with Mr Trump in this November's presidential election.

 

Speaking at a metalworks firm near his childhood hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Thursday, Mr Biden said the president's failures had "come with a terrible human cost and a deep economic toll".

 

"Time and again, working families are paying the price for this administration's incompetence," Mr Biden said.

 

November's election is expected to be dominated by the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout, which has pushed tens of millions of Americans into unemployment. More than 130,000 people have died with the virus.

 

Many voters are concerned by the Trump administration's handling of the pandemic. His divisive approach to the country's recent wave of anti-racism protests has also come under sharp scrutiny.

 

Opinion polls show Mr Biden with an almost double-digit lead over Mr Trump.

 

Analysts have urged caution in over-interpreting the polls, but Mr Biden's lead is far greater than that of Mr Trump's 2016 opponent Hillary Clinton at the same point in the campaign.(ANA)

FA/ANA/10 July 2020-------