BAY CITY, Mich. — Vice President JD Vance defended President Trump’s tariff approach on Friday, saying the US government needs to “fight back” against countries like China who use “literal slaves” in their factories to make cheap goods.
The VP, an Ohio native, noted his rural American background as he spoke at a plastics factory in Michigan, speaking to local residents and business owners about the need to produce in the US — and not offshore labor to foreign countries like China, which has forced Uyghur Muslims make products that are later exported to the US.
He said foreign countries “use slave labor that undercuts the wages of American workers” and that American leadership over the past 40 years “refused to fight back” against “literal slaves” making “stuff cheaply” and importing into the US.
The argument against forced labor and in favor of US manufacturing — even with higher costs — comes as countries are threatening retaliatory tariffs on the US in response to Trump’s reciprocal tariff threats.
Vance touted Trump’s trade and economic policies as kickstarting the economy after former President Joe Biden left office — but warned that those who manufacture outside the US will be “penalized.”
“We’re going to cut your taxes, we’re going to slash regulations, and we’re going to reduce the cost of energy to build things right here in this country, that all is love — but if you try to undercut us and build outside of our borders, the President Trump’s administration has got nothing for you,” Vance said in his impassioned speech.
If companies choose to manufacture in China, Vance said, then they will “have to pay the consequences.”
The veep also slammed the protesters that lined up on the street leading to the factory with signs criticizing his approach to Ukraine.
“Don’t you all have jobs?” he laughed, saying more jobs would “get those people to get off the streets.”
Vantage Plastics, where the vice president delivered his remarks, is one of several companies that will be affected by the Trump administration’s trade war.
Some business leaders have expressed alarm about the possibilities of disrupted supply chains and increased export costs amid the trade threats, especially between the US and Canada.
The solution to reestablishing America as a manufacturing superpower, Vance argued, is to “fight back” against countries who have had unfair trading practices with the US.
Not levying tariffs, he said, would mean “never” rebuilding American manufacturing.
The White House has insisted that Trump’s tariff policies have not impacted the economy and that markets will eventually stabilize.
Trump has said that he won’t back down amid Canada and the European Union threatening retaliation.
His chief economic adviser Kevin Hassett dismissed the market drop earlier this week as “blips in the data.”
Vance argued Trump is running a “different playbook” with his hard and fast tariff threats and that change won’t happen over night, but that the president’s policies of hitting China economically will ultimately reboot American manufacturing.
“Seven weeks ago, President Trump started to run that different playbook. We are not going to borrow from future generations to buy stuff that the Communist Chinese make for us. We are not going to put people on welfare instead of giving them good, middle class American jobs. We are not going to drive housing through the roof. We are going to make it affordable again to afford an American home. That is what we’re trying to do.”
