President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff policy collides smack into economic reality somewhere in the middle of the Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit to Windsor, Canada’s southernmost major city. That 1.4-mile suspension bridge handles more than a quarter of U.S.-Canada trade. An average of 6,300 trucks ferry more than $300 million in goods — including about $50 million in auto parts — every single day.
Trump’s tariffs are rupturing what has been one of the most efficient cross-border trade relationships in human history. He claims his tariffs have “created an American economic miracle” with low inflation and high economic growth. But Michigan, which the president carried in 2016 and 2024, is experiencing high unemployment, layoffs, inflation and deepening anxiety.
The Ambassador Bridge is emblematic of the intertwined relationship between Michigan and Ontario. Car parts go back and forth as many as eight times before becoming a finished vehicle. A pause in production at a factory in Windsor means layoffs in Detroit’s gritty suburbs.
Last April, Trump imposed 25 percent tariffs on all Canadian imports not compliant with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade pact, later hiking them to 35 percent. Then he layered on separate tariffs targeting the industrial spine of the Great Lakes economy: steel, aluminum and copper, followed by autos and parts. Canada retaliated with 25 percent tariffs on U.S.-made steel and aluminum.
A state report, ordered by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), estimates food prices have risen 3.6 percent due to Trump’s tariffs, and the cost of a new home rose an average of $10,900 because raw materials cost more. Michigan has lost 6,300 manufacturing jobs since Trump took office and has a 5 percent unemployment rate.
Canada’s retaliatory tariffs have badly damaged the farming sector, a key element of Trump’s coalition. Canada was Michigan’s primary export market. Now its wheat exports are down 89 percent since 2024. Cherry exports are down 62 percent. Soybeans, mostly destined for China, are down 46 percent.
All this could hurt Republicans in November’s midterms. Michigan has open races for governor and Senate. The major GOP candidates have largely backed Trump’s “America First” trade policy as necessary for revitalizing the economy, despite intense short-term pain. Democrats have hammered Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers, a former congressman, for seeming to dismiss the economic anxiety by saying, “The shoe is going to pinch every once in a while.”
Among Michigan voters surveyed, tariffs are about as popular as an Ohio State bumper sticker at an Ann Arbor tailgate. “Made in America” increasingly feels like “Taxed in Michigan.”
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