Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Thursday at the Detroit Auto Show that President Donald Trump’s tariff strategy has contracted American auto manufacturing and is benefiting Chinese competitors, delivering her first speech of 2026 two days after Trump defended his trade policies in the same city.
Whitmer, a term-limited Democrat in her final year as governor, said American manufacturing has contracted for months, causing job losses and production cuts. “This will only get worse without a serious shift in national policy,” she said.
The back-to-back Detroit appearances mark a sharpening public dispute over whether tariffs are protecting or harming the U.S. auto sector, as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement faces a scheduled review this year. Whitmer has argued that the tariffs damage the integrated U.S.-Canada supply chain that auto production depends on and cede ground to Chinese manufacturers, a position she has maintained over the past year.
Competing Assessments of the Auto Sector
Trump visited Detroit on Tuesday, defending his economic policies and touring the factory floor of a Ford plant in Dearborn. “All U.S. automakers are doing great,” he said.
Whitmer offered a different picture.
“America stands more alone than she has in decades,” she said. “And perhaps no industry has seen more change and been more impacted than our auto industry.”
Whitmer said that in every meeting with Trump over the past year, she has told him that damaging the U.S.-Canadian relationship benefits Chinese competition. Auto parts regularly cross the U.S.-Canadian border several times during the assembly process, making the bilateral supply chain structurally embedded in the industry, according to the Associated Press.
“When we fight our neighbors, however, China wins,” she said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Whitmer’s speech.
USMCA and Tariff History
Trump suggested during his Detroit-area tour that the USMCA — the major trade agreement he negotiated in his first term — was irrelevant, though he provided few other details. Whitmer defended the agreement in her speech.
Trump originally announced a 25% tariff on automobiles and parts, then relaxed the policy after domestic manufacturers sought relief from rising production costs.
Political Context
Whitmer has maintained a more cordial relationship with Trump in his second term than in his first, including a few White House visits over the past year. According to the Associated Press, her approach differs from other prospective 2028 Democratic candidates — including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker — who have taken more publicly combative stances toward the administration.