Trump, Harris Promise Auto Jobs for Michigan in Back-to-Back Rallies

Both candidates promised to revive the domestic auto industry, although voters appeared to have broader concerns.

United Auto Workers assemblyman installs the front doors on a 2018 Ford F-150 truck being assembled at the Ford Rouge assembly plant in Dearborn, Mich. on Sept. 27, 2018. Carlos Osorio/AP-File

FLINT, Mich.—Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump pitched competing plans for creating auto manufacturing jobs in Michigan at rallies held just one day and 40 miles apart.

Harris promised a Flint audience on Oct. 4 that she would continue the Biden administration’s government investments in manufacturing, which she said had created jobs and new auto plants.

Trump told rallygoers in Saginaw on Oct. 3 that he would revive American auto manufacturing through a system of tax incentives, tariffs on imported cars, and low-cost energy.

Attendees cheered both plans for job creation, although attendees who spoke with The Epoch Times revealed that their voting would be motivated by broader concerns.

With barely a month left in the presidential campaign, the rallies illustrate the importance of Michigan, a state that has been defined by auto manufacturing for more than a century, in this election.

Auto Capital

Some 21 percent of all American automobile production took place in Michigan in 2022, according to the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Yet the number of jobs in the industry has fallen dramatically over three decades, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Numbering at roughly 975,000 in 1990, auto manufacturing jobs numbered 48,400 as of August.

The shift is attributable to both globalization and the movement of manufacturing facilities to elsewhere in the United States, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank aligned with the labor movement.

Both candidates pledged to reverse that trend.

“Under my plan, American workers would no longer be worried about losing their jobs to foreign nations, instead, foreign nations will be worried about losing their jobs to America,” Trump told his audience in Saginaw.

Trump’s plan would incentivize manufacturers to produce goods in the United States by offering a 15 percent corporate tax rate for companies that make their products stateside, down from the current rate of 21 percent, and imposing a 100 percent tariff on imported automobiles.

Trump also promised to reduce the price of gasoline by 50 percent within one year of taking office by increasing domestic oil production and doubling the production of electricity, which he said would further attract manufacturers.

Harris touted her vision to boost automobile manufacturing by recounting gains made under the Biden administration.

“We have brought manufacturing back to America, creating 730,000 manufacturing jobs,” Harris said. “We announced the opening of more than 20 new auto plants in the United States, and we did it by investing in American industry and American workers.

“I will invest in communities like Flint.”

Harris did not mention how she would do this.

Earlier in the program, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer mentioned the proliferation of what she called clean energy projects, a reference to non-fossil fuel energy, agriculture, conservation, and climate mitigation projects funded by the Inflation Reduction Act. Whitmer also mentioned increased domestic production of microchips, which she said reduces U.S. dependence on China, which was funded by the CHIPS and Science Act.

Dueling Narratives

Each candidate accused the other of losing auto manufacturing jobs during their respective administrations. Both are correct, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Harris said American automakers announced the closure of six plants during Trump’s term, including two in Michigan.

“Thousands of Michigan auto workers lost their jobs,” Harris said.

An assembly worker of Ford Motor works on an F-series pickup truck at the Dearborn Truck Plant in Dearborn, Mich., on Jan. 26, 2022. Rebecca Cook/Reuters

Trump said 25,000 manufacturing jobs were lost in August, according to the most recent nationwide jobs report from the BLS.

Michigan had approximately 133,000 auto manufacturing jobs when Trump took office in January 2017, according to the BLS. The number rose to 138,000 by February 2019 before falling back to 124,000 in January 2021.

Under Biden, the number of Michigan auto manufacturing jobs then rose to a high of 127,000 during the Biden administration in December 2022 before falling to 114,000 in August.

Nationally, the total number of automobile-related manufacturing jobs presents a different picture.

The number of U.S. automobile and parts manufacturing jobs was 957,000 in January 2017. The number peaked at more than 1 million in January 2019, then fell to 949,000 at the end of Trump’s term, according to the BLS.

Under the Biden administration, the number then rose to more than 1 million in July 2022 and has increased by about 6 percent since then.

Jobs and the Greater Good

Although both rallies focused on manufacturing, attendees seemed more concerned with the larger economic picture and the broader issues affecting the country.

A group of Teamsters was seated prominently behind Trump in Saginaw. Although the International Brotherhood of Teamsters did not endorse a presidential candidate, union President Sean O’Brien said in a Sept. 16 statement that “a majority of voting members twice selected Trump for a possible Teamsters endorsement over Harris.”

Attendees at Trump’s rally spoke of economic concerns generally but not job creation specifically.

“I think besides the economy, it’s illegal immigrants. It’s affected our community directly,” said Brian Hetzer, 51, of Birch Run, when asked what drives his voting decisions in this election.

Alton Blackwell, 35, of Saginaw, said, “I definitely admire [Trump’s] mindset, his business aspect, as well as what he could do for the economy.”

Blackwell is a machine operator in the 90-day probationary period before joining a union and also runs a mobile auto detailing business.

Drew Bolzman, 27, of Bay City was drawn to Trump’s America First message. Bolzman, a Marine Corps veteran, cited “what’s best for America” as his driving factor in the election.

UAW President Shawn Fain chairs the 2023 Special Elections Collective Bargaining Convention in Detroit, Mich., on March 27, 2023. Rebecca Cook/Reuters

Harris’s preliminary speakers included three union representatives, including Shawn Fain, president of the United Autoworkers, which has endorsed Harris. While some union members were concerned with the pocketbook issues of wages and benefits, other attendees appeared to be motivated to improve society’s overall well-being.

Samuel Umuma, a 32-year member of AFSCME, a public service workers union, said the “good of the whole” has motivated him to vote for Harris. Umuma, 58, of Flint, said most of the members he represents will vote for Harris to improve their economic well-being. AFSCME has endorsed Harris.

Kris LaMotte, 49, of Royal Oak, said, “It’s about humanity, it’s about democracy, it’s about rules, it’s about having some order.”

LaMotte said the Democrats represent those values right now and that Republicans do not.

Sandy Mansur, 60, of Flint, said, “I’ve been a Democrat for a long time. I’m very excited to have a female option. And I am anti-Trump.”

Michigan with its 15 electoral votes is one of a handful of battleground states that are likely to figure prominently in the 2024 presidential election. Trump won the state by fewer than 10,000 votes in 2016. Biden carried Michigan by about 154,000 votes in 2020.

Harris leads by 1.5 percent in the most recent average of Michigan polls compiled by FiveThirtyEight. The Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election analysis firm, rates Michigan as a tossup.