Michigan's Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson joined "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss President Trump's tariffs.
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00:00When you're thinking about how you'll be governor, it's a divided time right now, as you know, and especially in a battleground state.
00:06How will you listen and hear and see voters across the aisle, work with Republicans, help Republican voters, work with independents?
00:15I mean, what does that look like?
00:17Well, just as I've done as Secretary of State, I'll always work with anyone to get things done for the people of Michigan.
00:22And so as Secretary of State, whether it's building cross-partisan coalitions to save our residents time and money and put self-service stations in grocery stores and launch mobile offices around the state, I know we best serve the people of Michigan by working together to cut wasteful spending, eliminate red tape, and make the lives of every resident of the state, whether they live in a red or blue or purple community, easier.
00:46So that's how I've gotten things done already over these last several years, and that's how I'll lead as governor.
00:50So I would love to dive in a little bit and talk about how President Trump's policies so far in his second term are impacting your state specifically.
00:58So let's start with tariffs, because they are a signature of President Trump's second term.
01:03We have seen him threaten, start, pause, and escalate trade wars with dozens of nations around the world.
01:09So how are you seeing tariffs specifically impact Michigan?
01:12Well, exactly as you said, the uncertainty of the tariff policy, not to mention the way that they are recklessly being applied, has been really challenging for our state and our farmers and our small business owners, our auto suppliers, and our entire economy.
01:28So I believe that tariffs can be a tool in the toolbox for increasing the number and amount of manufacturing we can do here in Michigan, around our country.
01:36But that's not what this is.
01:38This is chaotic, confusing economic policy, where in any given day, our small business owners don't know if they're going to be able to get their inventory in this fall.
01:46Our farmers don't know if they're going to be able to sell their soybeans and other inventory to buyers across the world.
01:51So that uncertainty of that economic policy and that lack of strategy behind it has created a lot of uncertainty for our economy as well in this state, which we have tried to level set through policies that will ensure farmers can know that the government in Michigan is on their side to help navigate this challenging time.
02:09But we're looking forward to being able to partner with the federal government that will have a more sensible, streamlined policy to provide certainty, as well as investing in our economic structures, our manufacturing industry in the state, while also not burning bridges with partners that are important to us, like our friends in Canada.
02:27Michigan is a state that's synonymous with the auto industry, and the United Auto Workers celebrated President Trump's auto tariffs at the time.
02:35I want to read what they said.
02:37Quote, this is a long overdue shift away from a harmful economic framework that has devastated the working class and driven a race to the bottom across borders in the auto industry.
02:47They also said the tariffs could bring blue-collar auto jobs stateside within months.
02:53What do you make of that reaction and that response, the celebratory response from the Auto Workers Union?
03:00Well, certainly we have a lot of industries in our state, and the UAW is one of the most important ones.
03:05And I agree with their recognition that we need to do more to build things here in Michigan and to invest in our manufacturing industry in this state.
03:13And so I consider that UAW and so many of their auto suppliers and staff that they work with to be great friends and allies and stand with them in investing in data-driven economic approaches to raise wages in the state and increase opportunities to grow even more while decreasing the cost of living and of so many things in our state right now.
03:34So I'm grateful for their leadership on so many fronts and making sure that their workers are healthy and safe in the workplace as well, and look forward to working with them as well as others all throughout our state to advocate for sensible economic policies that will not just ensure their workers have security and job security and safety in the workplace, but everyone in our industries throughout our state can say the same.