Vice President JD Vance visited Bay City, Mich. on Friday, March 14, 2025 where he toured a local plastics manufacturer and outlined the Trump Administration’s plan to boost American manufacturing. | Kyle Davidson
Stepping on stage at Vantage Plastics in Bay City on Friday, Vice President JD Vance and U.S. Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler forecasted a bright future for American manufacturing under President Donald Trump while holding firm against criticism of Trump’s trade policies.
Vances’s visit to the Great Lakes State comes as U.S. companies are bracing for impact as Trump levies a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico, a 20% tariff on China and a 25% tariff on all aluminum and steel imports from across the globe. Trump has threatened to impose a 200% tariff on European alcohol exports unless the European Union does away with a 50% tariff on whisky, while Canada and the EU announces their own tariffs in retaliation, sparking concerns of a global trade war.
Those concerns have affected the markets. Despite a Friday rebound, the Dow Jones Industrial Average still saw its worst week since March 2023, while both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq posted their fourth consecutive week of losses.
However, Vance went to bat for Trump’s trade efforts, which the Budget Lab at Yale University projects would raise prices on consumer goods between .97% to 1.22% in the short term, reducing American’s disposable household income by $1,602 to $2,002.
“Our administration’s plan, our goal is to make it easier and more affordable, to make things within the United States of America. If you invest in America, in American jobs, in American workers, in American businesses, you’re going to be rewarded. We’re going to cut your taxes, we’re going to slash regulations and we’re going to reduce the cost of energy, to build things right here in this country that all of us love,” Vance said. “But if you try to undercut us and build outside of our borders, then President Trump’s administration has got nothing for you.”
Loeffler called attention to the Small Business Administration’s Made in America manufacturing initiative which aims to “restore American economic dominance and national security by empowering small manufacturers.”
According to the administration’s 2024 small business profile, roughly 99% of American manufacturers are small businesses, which it defines as firms with fewer than 500 employees.
Through the initiative, the administration aims to cut $100 billion in regulation through the Office of Advocacy, launch a hotline for small businesses to submit “onerous regulations” for review and reduce barriers to federal small business loans, among providing other resources to support manufacturing.
With the U.S. adding 10,000 manufacturing jobs across the country between January and February, Vance painted the metric as an early marker of success for the Trump administration, while blaming former President Joe Biden for a loss of roughly 100,000 manufacturing jobs compared to the start of last year.
Vance slammed Biden on inflation, claiming that housing prices had doubled in Biden’s four-year tenure in the White House, with Politifact noting this measure includes both the price of homes as well as associated costs like mortgage rates.
He further praised Trump for his efforts to eliminate Biden’s clean energy and climate policies, touting that Trump had opened up 625 million acres of U.S. ocean for offshore oil drilling, where the Biden administration had previously determined the environmental and economic risks and harms outweighed the potential for fossil fuel resources.
He also alluded to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s visit with Trump on Thursday, where Whitmer’s office said she’d had a “productive” meeting with the President, where they discussed “bringing good paying jobs to Michigan,” alongside tariffs, additional defense investments and keeping the Great Lakes clean and safe.
“I got to say it’s kind of funny to see some of our Democrat governors in various parts — I won’t mention which states exactly — coming to the Oval Office and begging for economic development under Trump’s leadership that they knew they would never get under Biden’s leadership,” Vance said.
While Whitmer previously served as one of Trump’s fiercest critics during his first term, she has since sought common ground with the President. During her State of the State speech, Whitmer told Michigan residents that she’s not looking for fights, “but I won’t back down from them either,” later criticizing Trump on tariffs.
While multiple GOP state lawmakers traveled to Bay City for Vance’s speech the Vice President was not welcomed by all. According to pool reports, a number of protestors gathered nearby the manufacturing facility ahead of his remarks. Both Loeffler and Vance pushed back against the display.
“I’m sure all of us saw there were a few protesters outside. And I can’t be the only person wondering, you know, it’s a little after noon on a Friday and don’t you all have jobs?” Vance said.
Shortly after the conclusion of Vance’s speech the protest had seemingly dispersed.
Following Vance’s visit, Curtis Hertel, a former state senator and the chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, issued a statement speaking out against the vice president.
“Vance and Trump have nothing to offer Michiganders but empty promises and an economy that leaves working families behind. Thanks to Democrats here in Michigan, manufacturing is experiencing a renaissance — and the chaos of this Trump administration threatens all of that progress and growth as consumer sentiment sinks in Michigan,” Hertel said, later noting that Vantage plastics had benefitted from $30.9 million in state investments allowing the company to expand and create 93 jobs within Bay County.
Michigan Advance Reporter Anna Liz Nichols contributed to this report.
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