During a speech on Friday in Bay City, Michigan, Vice President J.D. Vance told workers that demonstrators outside the event should “get off the streets and get back to work.” Alongside U.S. Small Business Administration chief Kelly Loeffler, Vance toured Vantage Plastics—a plastic manufacturing facility in Michigan—and delivered remarks emphasizing “America’s industrial resurgence.” Speaking at the plant, the vice president argued that the protesters outside were evidence that President Donald Trump’s administration needs to revitalize U.S. manufacturing so that people have less idle time.
“We’ve got this great event, this great facility, great business and of course, great workers and I’m sure all of us saw there were a few protesters outside and I can’t be the only person wondering, you know, it’s a little after noon on a Friday, and don’t you all have jobs?” Vance said. “I mean, who are the people? And I think that’s one of the reasons why we’ve got to rebuild American manufacturing and support great companies like Vantage Plastics because we want these people to get off the streets and back to work. It’d be good for them and it’d be good for everybody else too.”
According to Bridge Michigan, Vantage Plastics received a $1.2 million grant from Michigan in 2023 to establish its operations in the state and create 93 new jobs. At an event attended by Vance and Loeffler, discussions focused on the “future of American manufacturing,” a sector the Trump administration has actively sought to bolster.
President Trump plans to impose tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China—including 50% tariffs on Canadian aluminum and steel imports—to incentivize the return of manufacturing jobs to the U.S. He also announced the creation of an “Office of Shipbuilding” aimed at revitalizing both commercial and military shipbuilding, as China has outpaced the U.S. in maritime manufacturing. In February, the White House celebrated the creation of 10,000 manufacturing jobs, with 9,000 of those in the automobile industry.
During his Monday speech at the National League of Cities in Washington, D.C., hecklers disrupted Vance by shouting at him for highlighting the negative impacts of illegal immigration. In response, the vice president retorted that some people actually want to see the U.S. suffer economically as a result of illegal immigration. On Thursday at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Vance dismissed boos from some attendees during a symphony performance by casually waving and sipping his beverage.
