Michigan lawmaker says Trump threat to punish GM would hurt workers even more

Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) on Wednesday said that he shares President Trump’s frustration over General Motors decision to possibly shutter several plants in the U.S. and slash thousands of jobs, but argues that the president’s retaliatory threats only punish workers even more.

“What I agree with him in terms of his [President Trump] frustration,” Kildee told Hill.TV’s Jamal Simmons and Buck Sexton on “Rising.”

“What I don’t agree with is that we should sort of double down on not having a manufacturing policy in this country and punish General Motors, which really means further punish the workers who are losing their jobs by decreasing the incentives for the development of autonomous vehicles or electric vehicles,” the lawmaker continued.

General Motors announced on Monday that it plans to lay off fifteen percent of its salaried workers, and will shutter five manufacturing plants in North America. Four of those closures are in the U.S., including plans in Ohio, Michigan and Maryland.

Trump responded by lashing out at the Detroit automaker, saying he will consider pulling General Motors’ subsidies, despite previously promising throughout his 2016 campaign to revive American manufacturing.

“The U.S. saved General Motors and this is the THANKS we get,” Trump said in a pair of tweets, referring to the federal bailout of the auto industry after the 2008 financial crash.

“We are now looking at cutting all @GM subsidies, including…for electric cars,” he added.

Kildee slammed Trump’s threats against GM on Tuesday, saying the plant closures “are symbolic of the Trump economy,” and called on the president to push for a manufacturing policy that supports American workers.

But until there’s a manufacturing policy in place, he said the federal government needs to fundamentally change its approach to the auto industry as a whole. 

Kildee argues that federal officials might want to rethink how far they will go to accommodate automakers like GM if they wind up moving businesses overseas to improve their profitability in the short-term.

“The company needs to understand when they continually come to some of us and ask for consideration, say on some issues around emission standards, for example, we’re going to have to think really hard about this,” he said.

— Tess Bonn