MACKINAC ISLAND — Auto industry experts talked about the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariff policy Wednesday at the Mackinac Policy Conference.
They say that Trump’s sometimes rampant pace of policy changes has scared many companies away from US investments in the near future.
Over 40% of suppliers in the lobbying group MEMA say that they’ve delayed making long-term investments because of current conditions.
“I think the difficulty at this moment is that there’s been such whipsawing back and forth that you’re not able to make decisions and move forward,” said Eric Lee, president of North America LG Energy Solution. “And that’s really been unfortunate.”
Plus, they say the American workforce may not be very interested in the manufacturing economy.
“I ask who’s going to work in these factories — every single company I visit, automaker or supplier. Number one complaint — I cannot get the people I need. Cannot get them to work in the plants,” said John McElroy, host of Autoline Daily. “Talk to younger people. They have no interest in going to work in a factory.”
Analysts said that increasing US production would likely result in more automated jobs, not necessarily benefitting American workers.
“I think as we develop this industrial policy, we have to be very smart,” Lee said. “We have to use a scalpel to figure out what is it that we want to lead in, and then other stuff where we need to import it to be competitive, we need to enable that.”
Michigan’s auto industry is worth more than $300 billion, according to the Detroit Regional Chamber, and about 20% of all American auto production occurs in Michigan.
