Gov. Makes Planes, Ships, Chips and Automobiles Speech In D.C.

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 04/09/2025) Gov. Gretchen WHITMER Wednesday called for America to build more planes, ships, microchips and automobiles during a 25-minute “Build, America, Build Address” speech in Washington D.C. to a group of business leaders.

The Governor suggested cutting red tape, scaling back the tariffs and investing in American workers in order to bring manufacturing back to the United States. Tariffs, alone, will likely deliver a “triple whammy” on Michigan with “higher costs, fewer jobs and more uncertainty," she said.

Whitmer said she and President Donald TRUMP agree on the motivation behind the tariffs, which is a desire to build more stuff in America -- cars, steel and ships through fair trade agreements.

“I'm not against tariffs outright, but they are a blunt tool,” she said. “You can't just bust out the tariff hammer to swing at every problem without a clearly defined end-goal . . . Strategic reindustrialization must be a bipartisan project that spans multiple presidential administrations.”

Interestingly, Trump hit a 90-day pause on most tariffs only hours after Whitmer's speech.

To bring in a “Golden Age" of American manufacturing, as Trump has dubbed it, she called for more planes, ships, microchips and automobiles. To get there, she called on a multi-administrative strategy that bridges the "political divides and makes lasting progress.”

“We have good cards, but good cards alone don't mean jack if you don't play them right,” Whitmer said. "This year, and in the years to come, no matter who is in the White House, we need to be betting on American workers.”

The idea of helping American workers came up more than once during her morning talk. She said Michigan workers were the tip of the “torpedo” as it were.

“We can train thousands of Michiganders to do what we do best, which is GSD, or ‘get ship done,’”

She was introduced by George COOK, the Midwest regional director for state and local public policy at General Motors.

Carlson Interview

After the speech, journalist Gretchen CARLSON hosted a sitdown with Whitmer. She asked about Democratic messaging after losing the White House in 2024. Whitmer said Dems should be centered on talking with regular people and asking questions about what they need in their lives.

“That’s what public servants should be doing, not telling people what to be angry about, but listening and focusing on solving the problems that are vexing the people in this country,” she said.

She said she wasn’t trying to tell other governors how they should be running their states, but the economy is on the forefront of people's minds right now. Other issues are being shoved onto the back burner.

“Maybe they care, but all their energy is consumed by survival, and so fixing the roads is not just about making a smoother drive for everybody, it's about helping people keep more money in their pocket so they’re not shelling out thousands to fix the rim on their car when they got to pay the rent and childcare,” Whitmer said.

Carlson also asked about who was leading the Democrats after Trump won the election.

Whitmer said the Democrat in the White House was the leader, but power ended up being spread out after the loss.

“There’s a lot of leaders in the Democratic Party. I think I’m really fortunate to have such a great bench of fellow governors that I call my good friends, that have been really important in terms of helping us navigate historic challenges, from pandemics to the current situation that we are in,” she said.

Whitmer returned to her point that political figures need to focus on solving the problems of voters and to not get distracted.

“If we are sidetracked by issues that aren’t salient to the average person, I don’t see how we have a different outcome than what we are experiencing now,” she said.