Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) shocked Democrats on Wednesday for admitting that she agreed with President Donald Trump on tariffs.
Trump has taken heat from Democrats and Republicans for his tariff announcement that has sent the stock market and the global economy spiraling. Economists have warned that the costly tariffs will increase prices for Americans and could drive the country into a recession.
Politico Playbook first reported on Whitmer’s planned economic speech in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, where she said she supports some tariffs.
“I understand the motivation behind the tariffs,” Whitmer said, according to planned remarks reported by Politico. “and here’s where President Trump and I do agree. We do need to make more stuff in America… more cars and chips… more steel and ships. We do need fair trade. ... [W]e need a consistent national strategy united around the new economic consensus that a lot of Democrats and Republicans now share."
Whitmer gave her economic speech on Wednesday morning, where she also backed Trump’s vision for a “Golden Age” of America.
“Let’s make more ships, planes, and semiconductor chips in America. Let’s cut red tape and unleash the extraordinary potential of American industry. Let’s give more hardworking people a fair shot at a decent life. And let’s usher in, as President Trump says, a ‘Golden Age’ of American manufacturing,” she said, according to Semafor’s David Weigel.
Weigel reported that Whitmer said she is not against “tariffs outright” earlier in her speech, but they are a “blunt tool.”
“You can’t just bust out the tariff hammer to swing at every problem without a clearly defined end-goal,” she said, according to Weigel.
Whitmer is seen as a possible Democratic contender for the 2028 presidential election. As governor of a swing state, she is trying to appeal to voters who may have voted for Trump.
However, her comments sparked backlash from Democrats.
“Gonna be honest IDGAF what Gretchen Whitmer has to say in her little speech in D.C. today. I am annoyed with people positioning themselves for 2028. Makes me hate them,” one liberal pundit wrote on X.
Democratic organizer Armand Domalewski wrote: “The Titanic is sinking and Gretchen Whitmer is talking about how it would’ve been smarter to hit a smaller iceberg. Absolutely f--king disqualifying”.
And The Bulwark’s Bill Kristol said: “This is nuts. Democrats really, really have to learn, as Robert Frost put it, to take their own side in a fight.”
Trump’s reciprocal tariffs went into effect on Wednesday.
Trump announced his latest — and most sweeping — round of tariffs on April 2, which he dubbed “Liberation Day,” as part of his “reciprocal” trade plan. In a fiery speech claiming that other countries had “ripped off” the U.S. for years, Trump declared that the U.S. would now tax nearly all of America’s trading partners at a minimum of 10% — and impose steeper rates for countries that he says run trade surpluses with the U.S.
The 10% baseline already went into effect Saturday. And when the clock struck at midnight, the higher import tax rates on dozens of countries and territories took hold.
The steeper levies run as high as 50% — with that biggest rate landing on small economies that trade little with the U.S., including the African kingdom of Lesotho. Some other rates include a tax of 47% on imports from Madagascar, 46% on Vietnam, 32% on Taiwan, 25% on South Korea, 24% on Japan and 20% on the European Union.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Stories by Lauren Sforza
Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.