Lansing Democrats and labor organizations were in an uproar Friday after vice presidential candidate U.S. Sen. JD Vance declined to say whether a second Trump administration would honor the $500 million grant for General Motor’s Grand River Assembly Plant.
“The future of the auto industry will either be here in Michigan, or it will be in China, and I’m proud to be on team Michigan,” Former Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr. said during a press conference Friday. “Lansing is an auto town. Lansing is a union town. Lansing is a UAW town … This is about the history of Lansing, the soul of Lansing and the future of Lansing.”
A spokesperson for the former President Donald Trump’s Michigan campaign panned the Democrats in a statement on Friday, saying Vice President Kamala Harris is the one driving automotive jobs to China and Mexico.
In July, President Joe Biden’s administration announced a $500 million grant for GM to subsidize the conversion of the Grand River Assembly Plant into an electric vehicle plant. The money is part of the $1.7 billion in grants under the Inflation Reduction Act to incentivize automakers to invest in electric vehicles.
Vance did not commit to the grant after being asked twice by a reporter with The Detroit News, the newspaper reported.
Asked specifically about the Lansing plant, Vance told The News that the grant “came along with some really ridiculous strings and no protections for American jobs not getting shipped to foreign countries.”
Lansing Mayor Andy Schor criticized Vance and the Trump campaign, saying they were endangering Michigan jobs.
“I’m pissed off. I’m angry. We’re doing so much right here in Lansing. (There are) so many great things going on. We had an incredible announcement: $500 million coming to our Grand River Plant, right in downtown Lansing. It was everyone there. Democrats, Republicans, you name it. Union, businesspeople,” Schor said. “Yesterday, in one fell swoop, JD Vance put that all at risk. He showed that a second Trump term will be a disaster for Lansing, for Michigan and for our country.”
By refusing to commit to the grant, Schor said Vance and Trump would be putting 650 jobs at the plant at risk.
“They’d rather kill union jobs and let China lead the way to the future of the industry,” Schor said. “Vance and Trump will let Michigan manufacturing plants close, just like Trump did when he was president.”
Schor referenced the GM Warren Transmission Plant closure in 2019, along with five other GM North American plants.
“In Trump’s presidency, we lost nearly 9,000 auto jobs during his term. Families had to relocate. Local economies flagged, and the industry that empowered our state for almost half a century was pushed to the brink,” Schor said.
Harris, on the other hand, supports union workers and American jobs, Schor said.
“We can’t go back. I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or Republican … if you are an American union worker, here in Lansing, here in Michigan or anywhere else in the United States, the choice is clear,” Schor said. “I hope you’re angry like I am. These are our jobs. These are our shifts. These are our workers.”
Trump campaign officials defended his record on manufacturing, saying that Trump was prepared to protect American workers by imposing a three-part tariff framework against countries that want to undercut American labor. The campaign also pointed to Trump’s tariffs on imported aluminum and steel during his time as president.
“The only person driving auto manufacturers to Mexico and China is Kamala Harris and her radical electric vehicle mandate policies,” Team Trump Michigan Communications Director Victoria LaCivita said in a statement on Friday. “President Trump will end Kamala Harris’ disastrous Green New Deal polices and her administration’s war on energy, which contributed to the inflation mess we’ve found ourselves in during Harrs’s time in office. Under President Trump, we will unleash American energy and give the auto industry the tools to be bigger, better and stronger.”
Hertel and Schor said neither they nor Harris supported an electric vehicle mandate, but they agreed it was important for Michigan to remain on the cutting edge of the auto industry.
“I don’t care what kind of car you drive. I care where it’s built,” Hertel said. “I don’t think you should force anybody to buy anything in America. What’s important is that we’re investing in our communities and that the future of the auto industry is going to be here.”
Hertel also criticized Tom Barrett, his Republican opponent in the race for the 7th U.S. House District, for not speaking out against Vance, saying it should be disqualifying for someone running to represent mid-Michigan.
Barrett’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.
Mike Booth, UAW vice president for General Motors, also spoke at the press conference Friday morning.
He said the $500 million grant had clarity of purpose and provided a path forward for the auto industry and that any threat to pull it back was poor policy.
“We desperately need more investment in manufacturing to bring back those jobs,” Booth said. “This is not about electric vehicles or gas engines. It’s about good American jobs.”
Booth said that the United States was in an economic war with other countries right now.
“When you have governments that are willfully propping up their industry, how do you fight that? We need to do the same thing and fight these companies,” Booth said. “How do you do that? You invest. America needs to invest in itself.”
Schor underscored that the federal money unlocked a $1 billion investment from GM.
“This is government working with the private sector to make sure that we’re boosting our economy,” he said.
The Michigan AFL-CIO also criticized the Trump campaign over Vance’s refusal to commit to the federal funding for the Grand River Assembly Plant.
“This is exactly what we mean when we say Trump and Vance don’t give a damn about union workers,” Michigan AFL-CIO President Ron Bieber said in a statement. “There are hundreds of people who work at that plant whose ability to put food on the table and plan for the future depends on that funding. I know Trump and Vance think the Michigan auto industry is just a campaign talking point, but there are real lives at stake here. It’s a truly chilling glimpse into what a second Trump Administration would mean for auto workers here.”
Hertel said that Michigan is in a short window of time that will decide where the future of the auto industry will be built.
“We are in a global competition … about where the future of the auto industry will be,” he said. “If Lansing lost GM, we lot the future of the auto industry. … So, we have a very important decision to make. The decision is: are these jobs going to be in China or Mexico or are they going to be here. I want them to be here. I’m on Team Michigan. I don’t think that hoping that some company will do the right this is the answer. We need to make sure that we’re investing to keep those jobs here.”
– By Elena Durnbaugh
