Takeaways, fact-checks: Vance defends tariffs, urges patience in Michigan

• Vice President JD Vance toured a plastics manufacturer in Bay City Friday as part of an effort to tout America’s “industrial resurgence”
• Vance defended President Donald Trump’s decision to implement tariffs on European and other allies
• Vance also touted manufacturing growth, while claiming the administration has cut egg and gas prices

BANGOR TOWNSHIP —The future success of the United States may depend on a manufacturing resurgence, Vice President JD Vance said Friday, arguing  tariffs are necessary to “support the American worker.”

Vance spoke for about 20 minutes in Bangor Township at Vantage Plastics, an industrial manufacturer that has received state subsidies to add jobs. The vice president said the firm was emblematic of the type of company that could drive the country’s comeback. 

“If we do not protect our nation's manufacturers, we lose a fundamental part of who we are as a people,” the Ohio Republican said. “Making things, building things, working with our hands is America's heritage, and that heritage is alive and well in this facility.” 

Vance celebrated a February jobs report showing the country added 10,000 manufacturing jobs. Job numbers for Michigan have not yet been released. 

But with stock markets falling this week amid trade battles, Vance acknowledged: “This is not always easy, and it doesn't happen overnight.”

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He also criticized Democrats, including former President Joe Biden and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, whom he did not mention by name but appeared to allude to in his remarks.

Vance took the stage roughly an hour ahead of schedule, prompting officials to prohibit some media outlets — including Bridge Michigan — from entry despite valid credentials.   

From protesters outside calling for Vance’s removal from office, to comments the vice president made on egg prices and tariffs, here are takeaways and fact checks from his Friday visit. 

Vance defends tariffs

Vance defended the Trump administration’s aggressive use of tariffs, arguing other countries “have been taking advantage of us for over 40 years.”

In addition to new import taxes on China, Canada and Mexico — some of which he has temporarily scaled back — President Donald Trump has pledged to impose a new round of sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs on April 2 to effectively match any tariffs levied on the US from other countries. 

“Unless you're willing to use American power to fight back against what those countries have been doing for a generation, you are never going to rebuild American manufacturing, and you're never going to support the American worker,” Vance told the crowd. 

Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum imports this week prompted $28 billion in retaliatory tariffs by the European Union on items ranging from Kentucky bourbon to jeans, according to NPR. 

China has also imposed retaliatory tariffs, while Mexico and Canada continue to negotiate with the US after Trump issued a one-month pause on import taxes for products that comply with an existing North American trade agreement. 

The stakes are high for Michigan, where auto industry supply chains blur borders and Canada is a major trade partner. 

Strengthening American manufacturing is “a goal we can all get behind,” but  indiscriminate tariffs on geopolitical allies could “put Michiganders out of work … and drive up costs for consumers,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said this week.

Pot shots at Whitmer, other Democrats

Vance didn’t mention Whitmer by name but appeared to take a dig at her on Friday, chiding “some of our Democrat governors … coming to the Oval Office and begging for economic development” under Trump. 

The remarks came one day after Whitmer met with Trump at the White House for what she had called a productive discussion about “bringing good paying jobs to Michigan.” 

“We also discussed tariffs, the importance of keeping our Great Lakes clean and safe, and additional defense investments in the state,” Whitmer said in a Thursday statement. “I’m grateful for his time today, and I’ll always work as hard as I can with anyone for the state of Michigan and its people.”

Whitmer, a second-term Democrat, has noticeably tempered her response to the Trump administration in the president’s second term, saying earlier this year that she hoped they could find “common ground.”

Vance also frequently criticized Biden, saying the prior administration “left us with a terrible economy.”

Fact-checking egg, gas prices

Outside of blaming the prior administration for inheriting a poor economy, Vance touted what he called positive signs in Trump’s first two months. 

But some of those claims were inaccurate or lacked context, including his assertion that “egg prices are lower than they were when we took office.”

Nationally, wholesale prices have ticked down in recent days. But that has not yet resulted in relief for consumers, who continue to pay high prices largely attributable to avian flu outbreaks.  

Officials with the US Department of Agriculture have said “overall food prices are anticipated to rise slightly faster than the historical average rate of growth,” throughout 2025.

Vance also claimed the current administration “got gasoline much lower than it was when we took office.”

While prices have fallen some in Michigan — falling from an average of $3.15 on Jan. 19 to $3.04 on March 14, according to AAA — experts say the lower prices aren’t necessarily a result of the administration 

While Trump is trying to boost domestic oil production, the country was already producing record amounts — and forecasted to continue doing so — before he took office.  

‘We have to be loud,’ say protesters

Less than a mile away from Vantage Plastics, a group of protesters lined the street, waving signs opposing the Department of Government Efficiency, potential cuts to Social Security and anger over Trump’s handling of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

“I don’t believe in being afraid right now,” said Colton Hughes, 35, of Lansing. “We have to be active and we have to be loud and we have to show other people that there is a light in the world. … Even though things look scary and look dark right now, we’re going to get through it.” 

Hughes, who sported Ukraine’s coat of arms on his T-shirt, said he’s concerned about the direction America is heading — particularly as someone hoping to marry his boyfriend of nine years this September.

Bay City resident Donna Stuart, 70, said the way Trump treated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his most recent Oval Office visit “made me sick.”

“Do what’s best for the country, not what (Russian President Vladimir) Putin thinks is best for the country,” Stuart said.

She attended the protest alongside husband Darrell, age 67, who told Bridge Michigan the pair came out “because we feel like people need to stand up, speak up and try to stop this crazy attack on our country from within.”

Vance, however, chided the protesters in his speech: “It's a little after noon on a Friday. Don't you all have jobs?”

Who is Vantage Plastics?

Vantage Plastics, where Vance spoke Friday, is a custom plastics molder located in Bangor Township. Founded in 1996, it is currently run by brothers Paul and George Aultman, and supplies the automotive, agricultural and medical industries, among others. 

In 2023, the company was considering an expansion to Nevada, according to a memo provided to the Michigan Strategic Fund — the public funding arm of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation — as it sought a state subsidy to add to its then-318 jobs in Michigan.

The state gave Vantage Plastics a $1.2 million grant, MEDC spokesperson Otie McKinley told Bridge on Thursday. The company has added 33 jobs as of October, and 93 new jobs are expected at the new facility in Bangor Township. 

Pay for the new jobs, the state was told, would average $20.54 per hour, or $42,723 per year. That is 9% less than the state’s median wage in 2023 of $22.57 per hour, or $46,940 per year. 

The median hourly earnings for production workers as of January was $28.74 per hour, according to the state. 

Vantage Plastics declined comment to Bridge on Thursday, referring all media inquiries to the White House.