Auto industry union workers in Michigan are praising President Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on foreign-made cars, a move announced as part of the president’s “Liberation Day” agenda to impose tariffs on imports from dozens of foreign nations.
During his Rose Garden speech on Tuesday, a longtime United Auto Workers (UAW) member took the stage to thank the president for addressing decades of trade imbalances that have led to offshoring and job losses in the U.S. Brian, a seasoned UAW leader, commended Trump’s decision to implement 25 percent tariffs on all foreign-made vehicles, asserting that it would help revitalize the American auto industry in Michigan. “I grew up just north of Detroit, Michigan in Macomb County — known as the home of the Reagan Democrats. My first vote for president was for Ronald Reagan,” Brian said. “I thought that was going to be the best president I ever saw in my lifetime until Donald J. Trump came along.”
“I have watched my entire life, I have watched plant after plant after plant in Detroit and in the metro Detroit area close,” the UAW leader continued. There are now plants sitting idle, there are now plants that are underutilized. And Donald Trump’s policies are going to bring products back into those under-utilized plants, there’s going to be new investment, there’s going to be new plants built.”
Trump claimed that the tariffs aim to compel foreign companies to either move their manufacturing operations to the United States or eliminate their own significant tariffs on American vehicle imports. “And the UAW members — and I brought 20 of them with me, they’re sitting right over here — we support Donald Trump’s policies on tariffs 100 percent,” Brian continued, referencing members of a union that has historically supported Democrats. “So, Mr. President, we can’t thank you enough. In six months to a year, we’re going to see the benefits, I can’t wait to see what’s happening 3-4 years down the road. Thank you, Mr. President.”
The UAW has been strongly supportive of Trump’s tariff agenda, despite union President Shawn Fain endorsing and campaigning for former President Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris. “We applaud the Trump administration for stepping up to end the free trade disaster that has devastated working class communities for decades. Ending the race to the bottom in the auto industry starts with fixing our broken trade deals, and the Trump administration has made history with today’s actions,” Fain said in a statement last week.
