The General Motors Flint Assembly plant is a hulking symbol of American auto industry might, a 5m-sq-ft factory stretching as far as the eye can see down Van Slyke Road, and it hums: three shifts almost daily crank out the Silverado truck, the automaker’s most popular product.
The plant weathered decades of industrial disinvestment in Flint, a blue-collar city of about 80,000 in mid-Michigan, the nation’s auto capital. Flint Assembly remains an economic cornerstone of a Rust belt region filled with working-class swing voters who helped propel Donald Trump to his second term.
The president did well here in part because he promised an industrial revival that will regenerate towns like Flint. On the campaign trail he promised tariffs would achieve this goal. This week the tariff war kicked into a higher gear. The reviews are mixed.
Autoworkers, small business owners and residents here say tariffs could help Flint, but many aren’t comforted by what they characterized as Trump’s haphazard approach, higher prices on everyday goods and the prospect of middle-income folks becoming “collateral damage”.
“Trump is playing poker, but he’s playing poker with people’s lives at this point,” said Chad Fabbro, financial secretary of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 538 in Flint. Even the union is a house divided. The UAW president, Shawn Fain, supports tariffs, but Fabbro said many of the 5,000-strong rank and file at Flint Assembly see them as “bullshit”.
Onshoring industry is a good idea, if well planned, Fabbro added, but an abrupt, full-scale tariff war is “not good for anyone because middle America is going to suffer”.
Before Trump partly pulled back on Wednesday, his unprecedented trade war enacted at least 10% tariffs on nearly every country in the world last week, while hitting China, Taiwan and Vietnam with much higher rates. The war with China has escalated.
There’s little disagreement about whether the tariffs would cause prices to increase for everyday goods like clothing, electronics and groceries – some estimate it could cost the average US household $3,800.
In Flint, the debate seems to be: “Is the president’s political and economic gamble worth it?”
The president’s supporters say “yes”, and have pushed variations of a message: any economic pain will be worth the benefits of a restructured world economy. Among them is Brian Pannebecker, a retired Ford employee who started Auto Workers for Trump.
“It’s going to cause a little short-term pain, but we’re going to have to endure it for six months or a year, however long it takes,” he said last week. “The workers of this country have been enduring pain for decades as they closed plants down.”
But among small business owners in downtown Flint, there’s some doubt about the idea of more pain in one of the nation’s poorest big cities – about 35% live in poverty.
“The person who said that must be coming from a place of privilege because it is obvious that they’re going to be OK for the next year or so, but I think a lot of people are not in the same boat, so we have to be mindful of that,” Rebekah Hills, co-owner of Hills’ Cheese, said on Tuesday.
Her shop imports about half of its product from countries such as the Netherlands, France and England – the cost of those products would go up 10% under Trump’s latest plan, or more if he changes his mind. “It really sucks because it’s small businesses that suffer the most,” Hills added.
Frustration with stubbornly elevated prices – especially among foods – was largely behind a relatively strong Trump showing in 2024 in Genesee county, where Flint is located. He had lost to Biden and Hillary Clinton here by about 10% in the two previous elections, but closed the gap to 4% last year. Just north, in Saginaw county, also part of Michigan’s auto industry heartland, the president edged out Kamala Harris.
Democrats in Michigan, some of whom are fiercely critical of free trade agreements, are calibrating their messaging with these things in mind. Among those who support tariffs is US representative Debbie Dingell, whose district near Detroit is home to many rank-and-file autoworkers.
“I think tariffs are a tool in the toolbox so that we are competing on a level playing field with China, who subsidizes production, owns the companies and doesn’t pay a decent wage,” Dingell recently told WDET. “But it can’t be done chaotically.”
Trump’s approach was damaging the economy, she said, but she also noted that 90% of the nation’s pharmaceuticals are imported, and onshoring that kind of production was a good idea. But, Dingell added, “you can’t do it…
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