by Lauren Gibbons and Paula Gardner, Bridge Michigan
January 12, 2026

• Republican President Donald Trump will return to Michigan on Tuesday for an economic speech in Detroit
• After making bold promises to Michigan, Trump’s made some policy progress but economy remains sluggish  
• The president’s visit comes as the Detroit Auto Show prepares to welcome hundreds of thousands of visitors

President Donald Trump is due back in Michigan on Tuesday to deliver an economic speech in Detroit, returning to a state for which he promised an economic miracle by the end of his four-year term. 

Roughly one year in, much work remains for the Republican president to fulfill that promise. 

Michigan has added jobs but continues to have one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation. Inflation has slowed, but many costs remain high. Tariffs have sparked uncertainty, but not decimated the auto industry, as his detractors feared. 

That’s the backdrop as Trump prepares to address members of the Detroit Economic Club, a group of regional business leaders he last spoke to in 2024 during his winning presidential campaign. 

He’s also expected to tour the Ford Rouge Center factory in Dearborn, but is not currently scheduled to tour the Detroit Auto Show, which is hosting other officials this week ahead of Saturday’s public opening.

Trump has frequently used Michigan as a backdrop for bold promises to address economic and cultural issues. During a Novi campaign rally in 2024, he promised that by the end of his term, “the entire world will be talking about the Michigan miracle and the stunning rebirth of Detroit.”

He’s also knocked the city: In his last address to the Detroit Economic Club in 2024, Trump warned the “whole country will end up being like Detroit” if Democrats won that year’s elections. He called Detroit a “once-great city” while promising a litany of tax cuts, deductions and credits that he argued would “save” the domestic auto industry.

Trump has made progress on some of those policy goals, but critics point to sluggish job growth, continued increases in the cost of living and economic uncertainty as signs that Trump’s actions are hurting average citizens.

He’s returning to Michigan during a tense time, nationally, following his military ouster of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and a fatal shooting by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minnesota. Protests are expected in Detroit. 

As Trump prepares to discuss the economy, here are the facts. 

How tariffs have fared 

Since taking office, Trump has levied tariffs on imported cars and vehicle parts, along with steel and aluminum. He’s also levied new import taxes on products from countries around the world. 

Michigan’s close trading ties to Canada and the prominence of auto manufacturing in the state prompted fears that steep tariffs could negatively impact the state’s economy, though results have been mixed. 

A December 2025 tariff analysis from economists at Harvard and Chicago University determined prices have increased and US businesses have borne the brunt of added costs. But tariff exemptions, shipping lags and enforcement gaps have moderated the overall impact on the economy. 

University of Michigan economists initially predicted Michigan could lose out on 13,000 jobs to the higher tariffs. In late 2025, an updated report found the tariffs’ impact would ultimately result in a “small positive” for domestic auto production, but raise consumer vehicle prices overall.  

Through September, Michigan had added about 20,000 jobs in 2025, according to federal data. The state also lost billions of dollars in climate-related investments last year under Trump, which advocates contend could have created even more jobs. 

The intent of Trump’s America First trade policy was to increase manufacturing in the U.S., a move that prompted automakers and their suppliers to rethink where products are made. Yet a wave of tariff announcements — including against Michigan’s trade partner, Canada — unsettled the industry. 

Today, various tariff rollbacks and pauses have calmed many industry fears, even as supply chain costs increased, said Glenn Stevens, executive director of statewide advocacy group MichAuto. 

Renewed commitment to autos?

Trump’s visit just days ahead of the Detroit Auto Show signals his commitment to Michigan’s signature industry, Stevens said.

Stevens said he hopes to hear more from Trump on Tuesday about his hopes for the negotiated North American trade policy under the United States-Mexico-Canada agreement.

“It’s taken a long time to develop this interconnected three country trade bloc, and we want it to be stronger together,” Stevens said. 

Other auto industry policy changes over the past year led to less restrictive fuel economy and emissions standards, along with reducing subsidies for electric vehicles. 

“We know what we’re dealing with now,” Stevens said about many federal directives. 

However, the rapid pace of change cost the industry: Ford Motor Co., for example, is looking at $19.5 billion in write-downs after drastically downsizing its EV production plans. 

If Trump speaks at length about autos, Stevens said he hopes the president offers signs that he’ll slow the velocity of change.

“The most important thing that the industry needs is as much stability and long-range planning capability as it can have,” Stevens said, allowing lasting investment and product decisions.

Inflation slows, but costs still high 

On the campaign trail, Trump promised to roll back inflation “on Day 1” and raise tariffs to drive job growth in Michigan.

Inflation has largely negated the impact of household income gains since the COVID-19 pandemic. Inflation increased 2.7% in November, a lower rate than anticipated but one economists warn could be skewed by lack of data collection during last year’s federal government shutdown.

Cost of living in Michigan and nationally have skyrocketed in recent years, driven by inflation and economic volatility, and the job market is tight. Consumer spirits lifted slightly in December, a University of Michigan survey found, but confidence in personal finances and the economy remains nearly 30% below the same time in 2024. 

In recent weeks, Trump has ordered the government to purchase $200 million in mortgage bonds in an attempt to lower interest rates, and on Friday night announced his support of a one-year, 10% cap on credit card interest rates.

“Please be informed that we will no longer let the American Public be ‘ripped off, by Credit Card Companies,” Trump wrote on his social media website. “AFFORDABILITY!”

But critics say continued affordability concerns are proof the president’s policies aren’t working.

“Michiganders are feeling the effects of Trump’s economy every day,” Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel said in a statement, arguing that the president’s actions have made costs of necessities like health care unaffordable for many residents.

The average Michigan family of four is paying more than $1,000 a month for groceries, up 40% since 2017 and higher than the national average, per an analysis from the Urban Institute, a nonprofit research firm. 

Renters have experienced a higher jump in monthly costs than the average national household — data from the real estate company Zillow shows average rents increasing nearly 45% in the Grand Rapids area since 2015 and 35% in metro Detroit.

Michigan’s unemployment rate as of November 2025 was 5%, a 0.2% decrease from November 2024, according to data released by the state Department of Technology, Management and Budget. Per the latest federal data available, Michigan had one of the highest jobless rates in the nation, behind only California, Nevada, New Jersey and Oregon. 

Median household income in Michigan was $72,389 in 2024, well below the national median of $81,604 — a gap that’s more than doubled since 2014 as the state lags behind the nation in income growth. 

Recent promises to Michigan 

In early 2025, Trump vowed to work with Michigan’s Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to expand operations at Macomb County’s Selfridge Air National Guard Base and fight Asian carp in the Great Lakes. 

Weeks later, Trump showed up to Michigan to announce new fighter jets at the base. Last May, Trump issued a memo directing his administration to “achieve maximum speed and efficiency” to prevent further Asian carp migration into the Great Lakes basin. 

Trump remains focused on increasing military spending, announcing last week that he wants to increase the defense budget by $500 billion, bringing it to a record $1.5 trillion in 2027. 

Whitmer has focused economic development initiatives on the defense sector, beyond Trump’s 2024 announcement about Selfridge expansion. The sector is worth about $30 billion, officials said in 2024 as Whitmer announced an Office of Defense and Aerospace Innovation. 

However, Trump also put the brakes on Biden-era infrastructure spending. The move was blamed last year for Michigan losing a controversial $63 billion semiconductor factory near Flint.

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Officials in Minnesota are suing the federal government in an attempt to stop the deployment of thousands of immigration agents to Minnesota, the state’s top prosecutor said Monday.

“We allege that the obvious targeting of Minnesota for our diversity, for our democracy and our differences of opinion with the federal government is a violation of the Constitution and of federal law,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said at a news conference.

Calling the deployment a federal “invasion of the Twin Cities,” he said: “This has to stop.”

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota, includes the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul as plaintiffs and names officials with the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection as defendants.

In a statement, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin accused Ellison of “prioritizing politics over public safety” and said he and other “sanctuary politicians” were the reason the department had to surge immigration agents to the state.

“President Trump’s job is to protect the American people and enforce the law — no matter who your mayor, governor, or state attorney general is,” she said.

“This pathetic stunt only proves that Democrats will put illegal criminals over hardworking Americans every time,” a White House spokeswoman said in a separate statement.

Speaking at Monday’s news conference, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey cited the number of police officers in his city — 600 — and called the deployment of thousands of federal immigration officers “wildly disproportionate.”

“At times, there are as many as 50 agents arresting one person,” he said, adding: “We’re feeling the impact here in Minneapolis. Schools have closed. People are afraid to go to work, shop or seek medical care. 911 calls are up. Police resources are indeed stretched thin.”

St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, whose family fled Laos for the United States when she was 3, told reporters that she’s carrying her passport and ID with her at all times.

“I don’t know when I’m going to be detained,” she said.

The complaint was filed one day after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that hundreds more federal officers are heading to the state amid protests over the killing of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent.

Noem said that the federal operation in the state is now focused not just on targeting alleged violations of immigration law but on tackling ICE-related protests.

Noem has described Good, a prize-winning poet, as a terrorist who “weaponized” her vehicle against the ICE officer who fatally shot her in self-defense. Local and state officials have disputed that claim, saying that Good, 37, was only trying to leave the scene and calling federal officials’ characterization “propaganda.”

Good was in the driver’s seat of an SUV in a residential part of Minneapolis on Jan. 7 when she was killed. Video obtained by NBC News that appears to have been recorded by Jonathan Ross, the officer who shot Good, captured Good and her wife talking to the officer in the moments before he opened fire.

Video from eyewitnesses shows officers telling Good to get out of her car before she begins driving away. Multiple gunshots can be heard and the SUV slams into a parked vehicle.

Officials in Minnesota have criticized federal authorities for barring the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension from participating in the investigation examining Good’s death. Asked about the move last week, Noem accused state investigators of allowing people to harass and incite violence against federal officers.

The Trump administration began ramping up immigration-related arrests in Minnesota in December, after conservative commentators focused on a years-old scandal in which federal prosecutors uncovered a sprawling fraud scheme in the Somali community.

Last week, more than 2,000 officers and agents from ICE and Homeland Security Investigations were deployed to the city after a right wing influencer accused several Somali-run day cares of fraud. The allegations were investigated by state officials who said they found no evidence to back up the claims.

Illinois also sued the Trump administration Monday, alleging in a federal lawsuit that immigration agents deployed in the city are using “unlawful and dangerous tactics.”

“We have watched in horror as unchecked federal agents have aggressively assaulted and terrorized our communities and neighborhoods in Illinois, undermining Constitutional rights and threatening public safety,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement.

In a statement, a White House spokeswoman said the suit “reads like a far left manifesto” that seeks to “smear law enforcement officers and incite violence against them. Democrat politicians must stop siding with criminal illegal aliens over American law enforcement.”