Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer wants a fresh start with newly elected President Donald Trump, but is also warning that she won’t back down on tariffs that she believes would hurt her state’s auto industry.
The second-term governor will deliver her first major speech on Wednesday since Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, for whom Whitmer campaigned in the Midwest. Her comments at the Detroit Auto Show will be watched in Michigan, where she has two years left in her final term, and by those seeking new leadership within the national Democratic Party.
Whitmer faces a more challenging political landscape than other rising Democrats who could run for president in 2028. She must navigate a divided state legislature while cementing her legacy in a state that voted for Trump in two of the last three elections.
Ahead of the excerpts provided to The Associated Press, Whitmer plans to call on both “friends” in the Republican Party and “fellow Democrats” for compromise. She says she wants to work with Trump but is also reaching out to officials in neighboring Canada, which the newly elected president has accused of cheating the U.S. on trade and has suggested it should become part of America.
“There has been a lot of talk about tariffs. I’m not outright against tariffs, but we can’t treat them as a ‘one size fits all’ solution. And we certainly should not use them to punish our closest trading partners. ‘, Whitmer wants to say.
Before the speech, Whitmer spoke to the AP to outline her vision and message for the future. Here are excerpts from that conversation:
Whitmer confirmed Tuesday that she has not yet spoken to Trump but hopes to “reach out to him in the coming weeks.”
WHITMER: “I plan to attend the National Governors Association meeting in Washington, DC, I think it’s early next month, and attend the dinner at the White House that the governors always have with the president. “
“I look forward to connecting with the next president because we have a lot of important things going on, and the people of Michigan have elected us both twice, just two years apart, both times, and I suspect we being able to find common ground on some things and that’s my job.”
WHITMER: “I’ve shared with some of my colleagues from some of the very blue states that my situation here in Michigan is very different than theirs. I now have a Republican House of Representatives – a Republican House with a majority – to deal with to work.”
“I have to make sure I can deliver results and work with people in the federal government, and that’s why I don’t consider myself the leader of the opposition as some might do.”
During his campaign, Trump promised to initiate a mass deportation of immigrants living illegally in the United States, promising to start doing so on day one. Many Republican states and elected officials have pledged their resources to support his vision.
The Democratic governors’ response will likely be one of the biggest tests of their working relationships with Trump.
WHITMER: “I think it’s premature to say, to anticipate exactly what the Trump administration will do. We have prepared for a number of different scenarios, but I don’t want to get ahead of that.”
“During the campaign, people say certain things. It’s another thing when they come to power, where they want to spend their energy and the government’s finite resources. And so we’ll see what they do.”
The United States has yet to elect a female president, despite two of the three most recent Democratic presidential candidates being women, with voters rejecting both Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris in their bids. A significant number of Democrats think it could be decades before the United States gets its first female president, according to a recent AP poll.
Whitmer, who some Democrats hope will enter the 2028 race, could be one of the next candidates to try to break that streak.
WHITMER: “Absolutely. And you know, a lot of men have run for president and lost. And no one concludes that people don’t want a male president.”
“So when someone says it’s about gender, it’s probably revealing that they have their own agenda at stake, rather than really looking at what happened in the last election.”
