Baruah also discussed the Chamber’s letter to the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, and the U.S. Trade Representative, calling for a reconsideration of implementing harmful tariffs that will damage the state’s automotive industry and economy. Given the time it takes to build manufacturing plants, Baruah noted that the timeline of “long-term gains” does not line up with the length of President Trump’s second term in office.
“When I talk to people close to the president, the [Trump] administration … it’s ‘we’re going to bring manufacturing back here.’ Tell me that’s going to happen in a political cycle because the best-case scenario, it takes three to four years to build an automotive plant,” Baruah said. “So how is the administration, from a political standpoint, [going to] withstand the unemployment that’s going to happen?”
The panel also discussed UAW President Shawn Fain’s recent approval of the tariffs, which they view as a membership-related move rather than one that would significantly impact the automotive industry. Blanchard spoke about his differences with Fain, who is also a personal friend.
“I think [Fain is] hoping the promises of the president will be realized sooner than later, and I’m worried that they won’t at all because they’re all based on imaginary scenarios,” Blanchard said. “But it’s hard to fault the leader of the group to want more members.”
While Dismondy advised the automotive industry to have its suppliers as allies during these times, she and Bird believe it will take the U.S. many years to disentangle itself from the implications caused by the tariff rhetoric.
“Right now, we’ve created a complete uncertainty on how the U.S. does business around the world,” Dismondy said. “The next [presidential] administration that comes in will have to do damage control; the one after that will wait for the effects of the damage control … from a people-to-people [perspective], we continue to have those relationships, nonetheless. From a trade perspective, I’m not sure right now.”
“We have been working since the last Trump administration … on bringing back supply chains to North America that we need to compete,” Bird said. “We are in the first lap in an Olympic marathon to save our manufacturing sector … against China … when we say ‘no’ to Canada, we’re saying ‘yes’ to China.”