US Rep. Shri Thanedar warns tariffs will raise prices, hurt Americans
Outside Stellantis’ Detroit Assembly Complex-Jefferson Friday, U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar used a megaphone to warn against the tariffs that President Donald Trump touts as a way to stop the rest of the world from “ripping off” the United States.
Thanedar, D-Detroit, said tariffs will instead lead to retaliation across the globe and could push the United States into a recession, a worry that’s gained steam among some analysts and economists since Trump announced his “reciprocal tariffs” this week, targeting scores of countries.
The choice of the site for the protest was geared toward highlighting how tariffs might affect the auto industry and those who depend on it. Notably, Stellantis on Thursday announced plans to idle a couple of factories, in Canada and Mexico, in light of tariffs.
Some of the company's U.S. workers in Michigan and Indiana face temporary layoffs as a result, although that doesn't currently include those at the Detroit plant, formerly known as Jefferson North Assembly Plant. Notably, UAW President Shawn Fain, a longtime Trump critic, is a tariff backer, saying tariffs will boost production at underutilized U.S. auto plants.
“Tariffs are an economic tool that needs to be used very, very carefully and very strategically,” Thanedar said. “These across-the-boards tariffs do not work.”
Tariffs will raise prices on everyday consumers, and they will make automobiles, a key focus for Detroiters, more expensive, said Thanedar, with five people standing behind him holding various protest signs.
“Most American-made cars have components that come from outside of America and these tariffs are going to raise pricing on those components,” he said.
The administration’s approach is akin to “reverse Robin Hood,” with consumers paying the cost of the tariffs, leading to revenue for the federal government that can be returned to the richest Americans as tax cuts, Thanedar said.
Thanedar said his constituents have expressed frustration about the direction of the Trump administration during numerous town halls he's held in the last 40 days.
Willie Wyatt, 85, who lives in Detroit's Indian Village neighborhood, was among those who stood with Thanedar, carrying a “We didn’t vote for this” sign.
Wyatt, a retired UAW member who formerly worked at General Motors’ Romulus Engine plant, told the Free Press he sees tariffs as just the worst thing so far from the administration.
By: Eric D. Lawrence
Source: Detroit Free Press