“Made in America is back,” said U.S. Small Business Administration Chief Kelly Loeffler just before the vice president took to the stage.
The line brought back thunderous applause by those gathered inside Vantage Plastics, a Bay County plastics manufacturer.
She and Vice President J.D. Vance were in mid-Michigan Friday to tout the Trump administration’s economic policies
Vance used his speech to promote the president’s economic agenda, which he says is about bringing manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.
“If you want to be rewarded, build in America. If you want to be penalized, build outside of America. It’s as simple as that,” Vance told the crowd.
It’s a message that has been getting a mixed reaction.
Many Michigan businesses are concerned about a growing trade tiff with neighboring Canada that President Donald Trump has triggered with moves like increasing tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports to 25% and that prompted swift retaliation from Ottawa and the European Union.
Meanwhile, U.S. consumer sentiment fell sharply, marking its third straight month of declines and leaving it down 22% from December 2024, when President Joe Biden was in office, according to a survey by the University of Michigan. The preliminary report released Friday shows that consumers’ expectations of annual inflation climbed to 3.9% from 3.5%, the largest monthly jump since 1993.
The vice president did say “the road ahead of us is long.”
While a majority of Bay County voters cast their ballots for Donald Trump and J.D. Vance in November, the vice president’s visit did attract some protestors.
Democrats, UAW members and others greeted Vance on his way to his speech.
Organizer Karen Tighe said the demonstrators had a message for Vance.
“All of the economic policies that are coming out the Trump and Musk White House are hurting people here,” said Tighe.
Tighe expects opposition to the Trump administration will continue to grow.
During his speech, Vance dismissed the protestors, saying one reason to rebuild American manufacturing is to “get those people off the streets and back to work.”
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