Haley spars with Republican rivals at 3rd primary debate as Trump still looms

NBC News moderator Lester Holt asked candidates how they'd alleviate high prices for Americans in the first days of their adminstration.

DeSantis said he'd give families breathing room by gutting President Joe Biden's economic strategy, which the White House calls "Bidenomics," stating that he'd "take all the executive orders the regulations, everything to do with 'Bidenomics,' I'm going to rip it up, throw it in the trash can on day one where it belongs."

Ramaswamy, too, slammed "Bidenomics" as a "lie" before pointing to his own business career as proof he can take on the job: "It will take a CEO in the White House with zero-base budgeting to get the job done."

Scott and Christie took a different approach, arguing energy independence is key to reducing prices.

Haley, asked specifically about rural Americans suffering under inflation, pitched cutting taxes on the middle class and reigning in federal spending.

-ABC News' Alexandra Hutzler

In campaign ads and on the trail, the DeSantis campaign has been attacking Haley for recruiting a Chinese fiberglass company to South Carolina while she was governor.

On stage, Haley turned the table on DeSantis.

“Ron, you are the chair of your economic development agency that, as of last week, said Florida is the ideal place for Chinese businesses,” Haley said.

“I abolished that agency that she's talking about,” DeSantis responded.

Haley is pointing to the web page of Select Florida, Florida’s economic development entity. The website talked extensively about business opportunities in China, according to The Messenger. It included a quote from a 2020 report that discussed “positioning Florida as an ideal business destination for Chinese companies.” The references were removed from the website last week.

DeSantis’ office told The Messenger it removed some items from Select Florida's website that were "outdated information on a website for an organization that the governor abolished, so it was updated accordingly."

"Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 5 to eliminate Enterprise Florida (EFI), the state’s public-private business development agency. In doing so, DeSantis ended more than 30 years of EFI providing incentives to corporations and – prior to DeSantis’ crackdown – courting Chinese investments," the DeSantis campaign said.

-Analysis by Aaron Sharockman of PolitiFact

The candidates took on TikTok, arguing that the enormously popular if controversial social media app should be banned in the U.S.

Trump "talked tough about TikTok, I heard him do it many times, but when it came down to it, he did not ban them when he could have and should have," Christie said. "In my first week as president, we would ban TikTok."

"I think that China's the top threat we face. They've been very effective at infiltrating different parts of our society," Desantis, the father of three young kids, said. "These kids get these devices, and they have a mind of their own."

Ramaswamy, who has waffled on TikTok usage, targeted Haley's daughter's use of the app, drawing some boos, which he played down as coming from Haley supporters.

"We have to ban any U.S. company actually transferring U.S. data to the Chinese," Ramaswamy added. "Even U.S. companies in Silicon Valley are doing it."

"What we should do is ban TikTok, period," Scott said.

-ABC News' Tal Axelrod

As 538’s Cooper Burton wrote a few months ago, TikTok bans are popular among roughly half of Americans. But one group that is strongly opposed is young Americans, which Republicans have historically struggled with.
-Analysis by Nathaniel Rakich of 538