{"id":3139,"date":"2025-05-30T22:33:50","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T22:33:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grandrapidspost.com\/?p=3139"},"modified":"2025-05-30T05:16:20","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T05:16:20","slug":"tariff-talk-casts-shadow-over-michigans-economy-whitmer-warns-at-mackinac-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grandrapidspost.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/30\/tariff-talk-casts-shadow-over-michigans-economy-whitmer-warns-at-mackinac-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"Tariff Talk Casts Shadow Over Michigan\u2019s Economy, Whitmer Warns at Mackinac Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"
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MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. \u2014 Amid optimism about Michigan\u2019s progress, concerns about economic uncertainty dominated conversations at the annual Mackinac Policy Conference this week, as business leaders and policymakers gathered to assess the state\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

Governor Gretchen Whitmer, delivering the keynote address Thursday at the Detroit Regional Chamber event, acknowledged that while Michigan has made strides, federal trade policies under former President Donald Trump are creating serious headwinds for the state\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are many positive things to talk about in Michigan,\u201d Whitmer said. \u201cBut one of the palpable feelings is concern\u2014concern about the uncertainty coming out of Washington, D.C.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whitmer highlighted that Michigan\u2019s deep reliance on manufacturing, agriculture, and the automotive industry makes it particularly vulnerable to the economic fallout of tariffs and trade tensions. \u201cThe tariff talk takes a toll,\u201d she said. \u201cAll three of those things make Michigan more susceptible to the hardship that comes with the uncertainty and paralysis that follows. And we\u2019re already seeing it in Michigan.\u201d<\/p>\n

While she acknowledged the limitations of state-level power in influencing federal trade policy, Whitmer emphasized that Michigan can still take meaningful action to strengthen its economic foundation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t control what\u2019s happening in Washington, D.C., in regards to tariffs,\u201d she said. \u201cI can try to inform it and I take every opportunity to do that. But what I can do is make sure we shore up the fundamentals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among those fundamentals, Whitmer pointed to fixing the state\u2019s infrastructure, investing in education\u2014particularly literacy\u2014and attracting new industries such as semiconductor manufacturing. \u201cLanding a chip plant would be diversifying,\u201d she noted. \u201cAll these things are things that we can do in Michigan. They\u2019re hard, but we can do hard things.\u201d<\/p>\n

The annual conference, held at the historic Grand Hotel, serves as a key forum for dialogue among Michigan\u2019s political, civic, and business leaders. This year, discussions centered on how to sustain the state\u2019s economic momentum while navigating national and global challenges.<\/p>\n

Whitmer\u2019s message was clear: despite challenges from Washington, Michigan must stay focused on long-term investments and innovation to remain competitive in an unpredictable economic landscape.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. \u2014 Amid optimism about Michigan\u2019s progress, concerns about economic uncertainty dominated conversations at the annual Mackinac Policy Conference this week, as business leaders and policymakers gathered to assess the state\u2019s future. Governor Gretchen Whitmer, delivering the keynote address Thursday at the Detroit Regional Chamber event, acknowledged that while Michigan has made strides, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3143,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3139","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-state-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandrapidspost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandrapidspost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandrapidspost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandrapidspost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandrapidspost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3139"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grandrapidspost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3147,"href":"https:\/\/grandrapidspost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3139\/revisions\/3147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandrapidspost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandrapidspost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandrapidspost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandrapidspost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}