Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, is governor of Michigan.
The American people have been calling on elected officials to tackle the high cost of living. The message was repeated in last Tuesday’s elections in Michigan, Virginia, New Jersey and New York. As governor of Michigan, I hear it everywhere.
Here in my state, we’ve used the energy behind an affordability agenda to make major bipartisan progress in cutting taxes, building housing and much more. Unfortunately, our efforts are being undercut by our current chaotic national tariff strategy.
If we’re going to make life more affordable, that strategy needs a serious rethinking.
During the 2024 campaign, Republicans hammered relentlessly on the promise to bring down the price of groceries, energy, cars, health care and housing — “on day one.” But food prices are up. A new car costs more than $50,000 on average. Health care premiums on the Affordable Care Act exchange are double or triple what they were for most people last year. Rents are still too high, and we’re not building enough quality affordable homes.
In short, the White House’s tariffs are making everything more expensive.
It’s crushing Michigan. Recent findings from several State of Michigan Department reports prove what people already feel — prices just seem to keep going up. Farmers are getting squeezed. Homebuilders nationwide could reportedly pay a combined $4 billion in tariffs on materials, especially lumber and drywall, raising the cost of an average home by $10,000. The contractors who fix our roads are projecting they will pay up to $218 million more for materials. Families are paying more for meat, fresh fruit and vegetables and packaged foods.
Data from outside organizations validates the trend. A University of Michigan study projects that tariffs could cut 13,000 Michigan jobs. Nationwide, we’ve seen 1.1 million job cuts over the past 10 months, up 65 percent over the same period last year.
October was one of the worst months for Michigan employment in two decades. The Michigan Retailers Association found that roughly two-thirds of small retailers have increased prices because of tariffs or the threat of them. Goldman Sachs notes that American consumers are already shouldering as much as 55 percent of the cost of the tariffs, paying essentially a $100 billion-plus tax on things they need.
The upshot? According to the latest NBC News Poll, fewer than 1 in 3 Americans believe the administration has lived up to its vows to tackle inflation and the cost of living.
To be clear, I am not against tariffs outright. No state has lived through the consequences of offshoring and outsourcing more than Michigan. Decades of unfettered free trade policy decimated hundreds of our factory towns. It led to declining populations, fewer police officers on the beat, underfunded schools, less housing and worse roads. Many places lost a sense of purpose and identity.
Onshoring and increasing American manufacturing jobs is a worthwhile goal, especially since manufacturing has the highest economic multiplier effect of any sector. But we cannot underestimate or underappreciate the time and capital it takes to actually get it done. There’s no shortcut. This must be a bipartisan project that spans decades.
Getting it right requires working with our international allies, competing against adversaries and using tariffs as a precise tool to protect key domestic sectors from illegal and anticompetitive actions by other countries. We cannot allow Chinese government-funded companies to drive American automakers out of business. We cannot stop making American steel, an essential building block of nearly all industrial activity. And we must continue to develop our own semiconductor supply chain or risk costly delays and quality issues. We see the consequences of outsourcing these industries in Europe, where foreign cars and chips are starting to muscle out domestic products.
On a level playing field, Michigan can compete with anyone. So, let’s bring down costs by carving out goods Americans need to survive, industries that support American jobs and our economy, and countries that are our economic and democratic allies.
Let’s use all the new tariff revenue we’re bringing in to reinvest in American businesses and workers. If we continue using broad, poorly designed tariffs, American families pay more for everything, Michigan farmers lose out on billions in exports because of retaliation, and large and small businesses cannot plan for the future.
The Trump campaign ran on lowering costs and bringing manufacturing back to America. Here’s my message to the people advising the president: It’s time for a strategic approach to tariffs. Let’s work together to make life more affordable.
The post Gretchen Whitmer: If we’re going to do tariffs, let’s do them right
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