DEARBORN, Michigan, Jan 13 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump traveled to Detroit on Tuesday, aiming to refocus attention on U.S. manufacturing and his efforts to tackle high consumer costs as the White House strives to show it is addressing the economic anxieties gripping U.S. households.
The visit to the heart of America’s auto industry follows weeks of global saber-rattling by Trump, including forcing out Venezuela’s president, threats to Iran and Cuba, warnings to Russia and China and even a challenge to Denmark over Greenland.
Some White House aides have urged the president to prioritize domestic concerns as his Republican Party faces a tough battle to maintain control of Congress in November’s midterm elections.
Ahead of scheduled remarks at the Detroit Economic Club, Trump toured a Ford production center in Dearborn, Michigan, where it assembles the best-selling F-150, alongside the automaker’s CEO, Jim Farley, its executive chairman, Bill Ford, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
The trip coincides with the Detroit Auto Show, where this week the Motor City’s “Big Three” automakers – Ford, General Motors and Stellantis – will showcase their latest innovations.
But the backdrop is grim: Factory employment fell nationwide by 8,000 jobs in December, dipping below levels seen during much of Trump’s first term. The stressed state of U.S. manufacturing comes despite Trump’s pledge that his aggressive import taxes would lead to a manufacturing renaissance.
Speaking to reporters in Dearborn, Trump repeated his claim that his tariff regime was prompting a wave of new auto factories, despite little evidence of a construction boom.
“Now we have more plants being built in our country than at any time in history,” Trump said.
Auto executives spent much of 2025 scrambling to react to the president’s on-again, off-again tariffs, which have cost the companies billions of dollars. Carmakers also have navigated the knock-on effects of Trump’s trade wars, including China’s retaliatory restrictions on rare-earth magnets, used extensively in cars.
“One of the most important things we can hear from the president is that he’s got a pathway forward regarding our trade relationships with Mexico and Canada,” Sandy Baruah, CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber, said in an interview, urging Trump to renegotiate the USMCA trade pact after he disregarded it for his tariff agenda.
But Trump told reporters on Tuesday that the USMCA was “irrelevant,” and that he wasn’t thinking much about renegotiating the deal.
“I don’t really care,” he said. “Canada wants it. They need it.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday that Trump would highlight “good news” during his trip, such as a dip in mortgage rates and gasoline prices.
The 30-year mortgage dropped under 6% for the first time since March 2023 after the Trump administration last week pledged to purchase $200 billion in mortgage bonds, and the recent national average gas price of $2.81 per gallon was the lowest since March 2021, according to AAA.
AFFORDABILITY CONCERNS PERSIST
Affordability remains a top voter concern. Trump’s approval on cost-of-living issues was 27% in December, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.
In recent days, Trump has targeted some of the largest U.S. industries with economic-focused moves that shook markets but lack legislative backing. He pressed credit card companies to temporarily cut interest rates, announced a ban on Wall Street purchases of single-family homes and pressured global oil companies to boost Venezuelan crude output, which would increase global oil supply and potentially bring down prices for consumers in the coming years.
“There’s likely to be a lot more attempts from these companies to stay on his good side and stay out of the news for being a target for some of this pressure,” Norman Bishara, a business law and ethics professor at the University of Michigan, said in an interview. “Even if it’s not linked to the law – now or ever – it still can influence the discussion.”
Michigan is a key political battleground ahead of the 2026 midterms, with an open U.S. Senate seat and several competitive House of Representatives races. Trump carried the state twice despite Michigan voters also electing Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
(Reporting by Bo Erickson, Steve Holland and David Shephardson in Washington, additional reporting by Mike Colias in Detroit; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Nick Zieminski)
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