Electric vehicle chargers in Mackinaw City, funded by the Michigan Department of Environment Great Lakes and Energy. | Kyle Davidson
Glenn Stevens would like a word.
After former President Donald Trump said in a recent campaign stop in Flint that the state’s signature auto industry had become “an afterthought,” Stevens, the president of MichAuto, posted on social media that he’d like to sit down with Trump and “walk him through how this industry works” and what it means to Michigan.
Stevens, whose organization is the auto advocacy arm of the Detroit Regional Chamber, told me he’s become frustrated by the apparent lack of understanding about the industry by both candidates for president.
Glenn Stevens | Courtesy photo
“The issue of electrification and the growth of the Chinese auto industry are complex and there are a lot of moving pieces to it,” Stevens said. Political leaders “need to understand the dynamics and act appropriately.”
Policy prescriptions by whoever wins the White House next month will matter a great deal to Michigan’s auto industry, which is struggling to make a historic transition to electric vehicles while facing the daunting prospect of having to compete with turbocharged Chinese automakers on American soil.
While the industry doesn’t dominate the state’s economy as it did decades ago, MichAuto claims 1.1 million jobs — 20% of the state’s workforce — are dependent on the auto industry.
Vice President Kamala Harris has offered few specifics on how she would support domestic automakers, but is expected to stay in the lane she and President Joe Biden traveled over the past four years.
She has indicated her administration would continue to provide billions of dollars in financial aid to Detroit automakers to build electric vehicles and tax credits to consumers to help them purchase electric vehicles. Harris also would likely maintain strict exhaust emission rules that could require about half of all new vehicles to be electric by 2032.
And Harris has said she would build on Biden’s strong support for labor unions by, among other things, working to pass the PRO Act. The legislation, which is stalled in Congress, would strengthen labor union rights in organizing and bargaining.
Trump, Harris’ Republican opponent, is weaving all over the policy road.
Unburdened by any concern that the internal combustion engine is a major contributor to climate change, Trump has repeatedly said he’ll roll back the Biden administration’s tailpipe exhaust rules on “day one” of his administration.
Trump says American consumers don’t want to buy electric vehicles. (Except maybe those built by Tesla, headed by Elon Musk, who has endorsed Trump.) Pushing them to do so will allow Chinese automakers, who dominate the global EV industry, to destroy Detroit automakers, he claims.
Former President Donald Trump answers questions from Arkansas Governor and former Trump Administration Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and audience members during a town hall in Flint, Mich. on Sept. 17, 2024. | Kyle Davidson
“Why are we making a product that they dominate?” Trump said at his Flint campaign rally. He apparently thinks the Detroit Three can prosper by only selling gas-powered vehicles at a time when the global auto industry is moving toward electrification.
Close to half of Michigan voters agree with him, according to a poll released Thursday by the Detroit Regional Chamber.
The statewide poll conducted by the Glengariff Group, found that 44.9% of voters “do not believe Michigan should compete to be the leader of EV manufacturing, compared to 50.3% who said it should. Only 24.7% of “strong Republicans” believe it’s important to lead in EV manufacturing.
“At some point, all Michiganders will face the economic reality that if these new automotive jobs are not welcome in Michigan now, the future automotive industry will quickly be welcomed somewhere else,” Glengariff Group President Richard Czuba said.
Maybe Trump is privately rooting for the Chinese while blasting them publicly.
He and others fear the Chinese could enter the U.S. market by building assembly plants in Mexico and exporting vehicles from there. That’s plausible under the USMCA free trade agreement Trump negotiated as an update to the North American Free Trade Agreement if the Chinese can meet certain domestic content requirements.
Trump says he won’t let it happen. He has proposed a 200% tariff on Chinese vehicles entering the U.S. from Mexico, double the 100% tariff on Chinese-made vehicles Biden enacted.
But Trump has curiously invited Chinese automakers to build assembly plants in the U.S. to avoid those tariffs. That would put them in direct competition with Detroit automakers in the U.S. market.
UAW President Shawn Fain speaks to a crowd in Detroit at a rally for Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign for president on Aug. 7, 2024. | Anna Liz Nichols
It could also put the United Auto Workers union, which Trump has been feuding with, on the defensive. Trump has called UAW President Shawn Fain “a stupid person” for supporting Biden’s electric vehicle initiatives. Fain, in turn, has dubbed Trump a “scab” and an enemy of union workers.
High prices are a major reason why EV sales, while slowly increasing, have failed to meet industry expectations. But Chinese automakers are being lauded for their high-quality, low-cost, tech-laden vehicles that could entice a large segment of American consumers.
That’s exactly what Ford CEO Jim Farley fears. After a recent visit to China, Farley said Chinese automakers are far ahead on developing EVs, which pose an “existential threat” to his company. Ford and others must totally revamp how they design and build vehicles if they have any chance of competing with the Chinese, Farley said.
Michigan’s auto industry needs political, business, education and labor leaders to understand the challenges the industry faces, Stevens said.
“It can’t become an afterthought. It’s one of our core industries,” he said. “It’s such a driving force that needs to be protected, maintained and grown.”
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