Michigan autoworkers wary of Trump's tariffs: ‘Playing poker with people's lives'

The Guardian

13-04-2025

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 overnight'.
On Wednesday, just after Trump pulled back on most tariffs, the conservative-leaning Michigan political analyst Bill Ballenger said he wasn't surprised by the abrupt announcement. The tariff rollout wasn't going well for Republicans in Michigan or nationally, he said. It was more 'too much, too soon' from the administration.
'The public understands the tariffs and they get his overall goal and mission, but the way he's implementing them seems incoherent,' Ballenger said. However, what that may mean in 19 months when the next elections happen is anyone's guess, he added.
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Alan Jackson, a retiree from an auto supplier, echoed the president's line. 'Why does China and everyone else get to take advantage of us? Why do they get to screw us? I'm glad someone is standing up to that.'
Jackson dismissed the fears of higher prices and economic damage. 'People will be fine – it's worth it,' he added.
But polls showed a major drop in Trump's approval rating, and in downtown Flint people are worried.
The Flint farmers' market, in a repurposed newspaper printing press building, is a local economic hub where a half-million people annually shop for everything from locally grown produce to local jerky.
But many here partly rely on imports. Tony Vu, a restaurateur and leader in the local food system, is about to reopen his Vietnamese restaurant, MaMang. The uncertainty is generating fear of supply chain shortages, Vu said: 'It seems like deja vu, but with no end in sight.'
The tariffs especially take a toll on south-east Asian, Latino and other chefs of color importing goods that can't be produced here – avocados don't grow in Flint, Vu noted, and Michigan's growing season is only five months long. Imports are essential.
A case of fish sauce, a staple of Vietnamese cuisine, went from about $82 to $100 just on the speculation that tariffs were increasing, highlighting another problem – some companies use disruptions to the economy as an excuse to raise prices, even if they don't need to.
'It's going to take an industry that already operates on thin margins and is really hard, and it's going to create more pressure,' Vu said. 'If businesses are not quick enough to adapt, then it's going to be a death blow.'
At d'Vine Wines, with shelves full of bottles from France and Italy, manager Aaron Larson said on Tuesday he was not totally sure what to make of the tariffs yet, but he doesn't trust Trump. Fabbro, of the UAW, pointed to massive increases in Canadian aluminum prices that were a threat to Michigan's robust craft brewery industry. Meanwhile, his neighbors where he lives in rural Vassar, a few miles north of Flint, grow soybeans they sell to China.
About 40% of US soybean exports go to China, which just hit them with an 84% tariff on all US goods (later raised to 125%). They're scared, Fabbro said.
Auto Workers for Trump's Pannebecker said that corporations should 'absorb' some increased costs, and added that the unions are trying to have it both ways – they want higher wages but they want cars to be affordable. Something might have to give, he said.
'The market will settle itself out because that's how capitalism works,' he said.
The president's supporters trust his judgment.
'He's a shrewd businessman, right? That's why people vote for him, so I say let's give it a chance, but if the cost of everything goes up then maybe he has to pull back at some point,' said Russ, an autoworker at the farmers' market who would only give his first name.
At the UAW local hall across from the Flint Assembly plant, Fabbro isn't convinced, and fears layoffs. 'It'll only be a few years? OK, don't feed your kids for a few years. Sell your boat and home and everything you've worked for because you're willing to be a bargaining chip,' he said.