Defending Michigans Auto Industry, Whitmer Warns of Tariff Risks

Gov.Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, a leading Democrat from a critical battleground state, on Wednesday subtly warned against President-elect Donald J.

Trump’s tariff threats targeting Canada, even as she stressed her broader willingness to work with him on the cusp of his second inauguration.Her speech, at the Detroit Auto Show, offered among the clearest examples yet of how Democrats from states that Mr.Trump carried are seeking to balance fresh overtures to the incoming president with their staunch opposition to some of his policy proposals.Speaking at a convention center just across the Detroit River from Windsor, Ont., Ms.

Whitmer described strong cultural and industrial ties between the two cities.Using tariffs as punishment, she said, risks “damaging supply chains, slowing production lines and cutting jobs on both sides of the border.”Ms.Whitmer did not mention Mr.

Trump by name as she broached the subject, but he has threatened to impose tariffs on imports from Canada if the country does not reduce the flow of migrants and fentanyl to the United States.The Ontario Premier Doug Ford has discussed retaliation, including threatening to disrupt the electricity supply from the province to the United States.“I am not opposed to tariffs outright, but we cannot treat them like a one-size-fits-all solution, and we certainly shouldn’t use them to punish our closest trading partners,” Ms.

Whitmer said, arguing that such an approach could embolden China.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe....