'Self-inflicted wound:' Some Michiganders express frustration, fear toward Trump tariffs

Manufacturing jobs, rushing back to the American Rust Belt: It's an image U.S. President Donald Trump has often invoked defending his controversial trade war with the country's closest neighbours. 

But just across the border from Windsor, Ont., not everyone is feeling optimistic. 

"I'm beyond nervous," said Nick Sieja, an auto worker in Sterling Heights, Mich., a suburb of Detroit. "I'm nervous that I'll even have a job here at Stellantis with everything going on."

Trump started the week by slapping Canadian and Mexican imports with 25 per cent tariffs, citing fentanyl smuggling and immigration concerns, among others.

By mid-week, he announced the auto industry would receive a one-month reprieve after hearing from the Big Three automakers, who have criticized the tariffs. A day later, he announced a fuller rollback of the tariffs against both countries until early April. 

The move capped off a week of confusion and chaos for border cities like Windsor that rely heavily on the auto industry to fuel their economies. Industry experts and economists have warned that the tariffs could ravage the North American auto sector, which depends on a deeply integrated cross-border supply chain to function. 

"It's kind of like the doctor calling you and saying, 'I've got news for you, but you've got to wait a month to find out what it is'," said Michael Taylor, the mayor of Sterling Heights. "It doesn't really help much."

Taylor, a former Republican who has since come out against Trump, represents a city that's home to both Stellantis and Ford plants that employ thousands.

Opinion there on tariffs is split down party lines, he says. 

WATCH: Residents in Windsor, Ont., are bracing for possible tariffs. Just across the border, Americans are, too.

Residents in Windsor, Ont., are bracing for possible tariffs. Just across the border, Americans are, too.

2 days ago

Duration 3:01

While U.S. President Donald Trump this week paused a host of tariffs on Canadian goods and auto for 30 days, the episode had had residents in Windsor bracing for the possible impact on a border city economy that depends on automotive and manufacturing jobs. The CBC's Jacob Barker went to Sterling Heights, Mich., where Ford and Stellantis, two major employers in Windsor, also have plants, to hear what residents there are thinking this week.

"There are people that are saying that we need to punish Canada for sending fentanyl into the United States, which is crazy to me," he said. "But there's also the other half of the people that recognize that these are really disastrous for their local economy."

One of those people is Ian Payne, a student studying statistics whose father works as an engineer at Ford. 

"It's silly, man. It's just not productive for our economy. Canada is the U.S.'s most important trading partner," he said from a barber shop in a Sterling Heights strip mall. "We're just so interconnected that it's just incredibly unproductive, especially living in an automotive centre like Detroit where things cross the border three, four times when you're trying to build a car.

"This is really dangerous to the auto industry on both sides of the border."

Payne's comments echo recent warnings from auto sector analysts, who have said tariffs could cause the industry grind to a halt in a matter of weeks, triggering mass layoffs.  

"Of course we want more manufacturing jobs in Michigan," said Glenn Stevens Jr., executive director of MichAuto, an industry association connected to the Detroit Regional Chamber. "But we don't want them at the expense of Ontario.

"We want to be able to compete as a region and as a North American region globally, because we have some global forces, like the growing Chinese automotive industry, that we're going to have to deal with."

For those who do support tariffs, they echo Trump's claims that the trade war will spark short-term economic pain but result in a worthwhile payout. 

"It's creating more conversation in negotiations, I think that's a good thing," said Jeanette Dubrul as she dined with her father at a Sterling Heights restaurant across from the Ford plant. "Sometimes you have to have pain to make progress.

"I support what [tariffs] represent – I support the end goal," she said, calling that end goal "free trade."

Dick Burton, another diner, said the tariffs are "a starting point."

"Tariffs might be a big thing to start with, but it'll juggle things around and it'll all work out probably pretty good by the time it's all done," he said. "There's going to be some hard times trying to get things blended in and we gotta put up with that to get back to the real place."

Burton and a woman dining with him said Trump was right about the fentanyl crossing the border as well.

"I believe it's coming over the border, both south and north – much more from the south, of course," he said.

When CBC News pointed out that U.S. authorities had seized less than 20 kilograms (50 lb.) of fentanyl at the northern border in the entire 2024 fiscal year, Burton replied: "I don't know how much. But I know it's coming from both sides." 

WATCH: Once close-knit Canada-U.S. border communities feeling growing divide

Once close-knit Canada-U.S. border communities feeling growing divide

3 days ago

Duration 2:50

Stanstead, Que., and Derby Line, Vt., share a street and a library that straddle the border. But the barrier separating both communities is now being felt more than ever.

Taylor, the local mayor, said he's perplexed by Trump's targeting of Canada since the election.

"President Trump was here campaigning several times, maybe eight, ten, twelve times or more," he said. "There was no discussion about the Canadian border, there was no discussion about fentanyl coming in, there was really very little discussion about the Canadian companies taking advantage of us, so I don't know where this came from. 

"I don't understand why he would instigate a trade war with our closest and best ally in the world. It's head-scratching because to me this is a completely self-inflicted wound."

Taylor said he understands and supports Canada's countermeasures against Trump's tariffs. 

"Probably at this moment, I'm less proud of my country than at any time in my life," he said. "So when I watch the Canadians, you know, taking the Tennessee whiskey off the shelf, I'm kind of like 'Good for you, good for you. Stick it right back to him, make it hurt.'

"You know, I hate to say that about my fellow Americans, but we're not reliable partners. We're not being good friends and sometimes you've got to punch a bully in the mouth to let them know you're not going to take it," he said. "So go Canada."

Taylor said he's spoken out against the tariffs to American and Canadian media, and has been in contact with mayors in Canada to work "on ways that we can just amplify the stories." 

Stevens, the head of MichAuto, said they have been communicating their concerns about the tariffs with Michigan's congressional delegation, as well as individuals in the Trump administration. 

For automotive workers, it's wait and see, though. 

Sieja, the Stellantis employee, said he's not sure if tariffs are justified, adding that he's "not political."

"I just know it scares the crap outta me," he said.