President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Michigan residents are already realizing success from his economic policies, claiming what he called “the Trump economic boom” had “already begun.
“Growth is exploding, productivity is soaring, investment is booming, incomes are rising, inflation is defeated,” Trump said. “By almost every metric, we have quickly gone from the worst numbers on record to the best and strongest numbers, the most dynamic numbers, and an economy that is far ahead of even my optimistic schedule. Our economy is booming … I think you’ll see soon … like never before.”
Trump hailed his economic accomplishments during a speech to the Detroit Economic Club at the Soundboard inside the MotorCity Casino and Hotel. Some 500 business leaders and others had gathered to hear Trump’s speech, the third he’s given at the DEC (the last one came during the 2024 presidential campaign.
Michigan residents, though, may not be buying it. The DEC’s 14th annual economic survey, released at the DEC’s regular meeting right before Trump’s appearance, showed that 35 percent of respondents had a positive view of the president’s economic policies, while 55 percent skewed to a negative view.
And according to a Detroit News report, a poll commissioned by The News and WDIV-TV showed that 32 percent of respondents said inflation, the cost of living, jobs or the economy were the most important issue in the coming midterm election. Some 64 percent of voters surveyed said costs had increased over the past year. Only 13% said costs had gone down, while 22% said costs had stayed about the same, The News reported.
As the cornerstone of economic success in the U.S., Trump pointed to the success of his tariff policies, which he said have particularly helped the auto industry.
Tariffs, Trump said, are “making money for Michigan,” and the entire country is “stronger and safer and richer than ever before.”
“The Trump tariffs have delivered us trillions of dollars of new investment, unprecedented new partnerships on minerals, rare earth defense, and artificial intelligence and historic levels of foreign military sales,” he said.
Mary Buchzeiger, CEO of Lucerne International, an Auburn Hills-based auto supplier, agreed that the tariffs, which she called taxes, would help push investment in manufacturing – for the short=term.
Speaking to the crowd at the DEC’s earlier economic outlook meeting, Buchzeiger said the tariffs are adding thousands of dollars to the cost of cars.
“In the long term, it is going to drive up the cost of vehicles,” she said. “It is going to make us uncompetitive with the rest of the world.”
