WASHINGTON, DC — Workers in Michigan automobile plants are “actually encouraged” by President Donald Trump’s status quo-altering tariffs despite short-term uncertainty, according to Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI), who told Breitbart News that people are “willing to make that trade off for long-term more jobs.”
The state’s ninth congressional district, which McClain has represented since 2023, is home to many auto workers employed at nearby plants, including Stellantis’s stamping plants in Warren and Sterling.
Both of those locations are gearing up for temporary layoffs as the auto giant pauses production at some of its assembly plants in Mexico and Canada, including just over the border in Windsor, Ontario, due to Trump’s tariffs, the Detroit Free Press reported.
The Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram Trucks maker is the fifth-largest employer in the state, with 38,913 jobs as of August 2024, according to CBT News.
When asked what her constituents are saying about the current instability in the automobile industry, McClain said that it has only been “about 15 percent of what I’m hearing.”
“I thought it would have been worse, to be honest with you, actually. A lot of the union, a lot of the rank and file, are actually pretty patient because they believe [in the] long term … They are actually encouraged, because they think it will bring more jobs,” the chair of the House Republican Conference stated.
Noting that Stellantis’s Warren plant experienced layoffs in former President Joe Biden’s last few months in office due to electric vehicle (EV) mandates, McClain argued that the workers are “more optimistic” now because “they believe that [tariffs are] going to get more manufacturing done at their plant.”
Trump announced sweeping reciprocal tariffs last week from the White House Rose Garden, taking the “They charge us, we charge them” approach to foreign trade.
The congresswoman also argued that there would not be “any issues” with Stellantis plants in Mexico and Canada if they abide by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a free trade agreement proposed by Trump during his first term and signed by former Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto and former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.
“My frustrating part is — tell both ends of the story. And there’s two, there’s two sides to the story,” McClain continued. “I mean, we have to be honest. It isn’t an immediate fix, and there is going to be some discomfort, whether it’s uncertainty or whether it’s the players that aren’t agreeing with the USMCA — actually having to adhere to it now, or paying the price.”
“But I think people are willing to make that tradeoff for long-term more jobs, because let’s not forget — in Michigan, we’re getting our lunch handed to us on jobs leaving the state of Michigan,” she added, noting that the state lost a congressional seat because of it.
According to McClain, her constituents are viewing the tariffs through a “different lens” — one that puts the goal of bringing back jobs into perspective.
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, D.C. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
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