WATCH: Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer speaks on the road ahead at Detroit Auto Show

Thank all of the educators who are here. I want to thank all of my fellow engineers who are here making this show possible. We have so much work to do and we will do this work together and I'm so proud that we can do it alongside leadership coming from the public sector, from the state level, from people like my partner in public service. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the governor of the great state of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer. Hi everyone, happy new year. I am excited to be here in the Motor City as we kick off another year where Michigan will be at the center of the action. This is my seventh year as governor but I am still guided by the values I first ran on in 2018. The same values I was taught growing up in a bipartisan household. In the Whitmer house, compromise was a good thing. You see, I just want to get things done. Things that make a real difference in Michiganders lives so we can make people's lives better and I'll work with anyone who is serious about solving problems and I'll stand up to anyone who gets in our way. Heading into 2025, I'm really looking forward to working with Speaker Hall, Majority Leader Brinks, Leader Nesbitt, Leader Puri and President-elect Trump. Michiganders elected both me and Donald Trump twice, just two years apart. Every one of us swore an oath to the people we serve and the people expect us to find common ground, especially when it comes to lowering costs, creating good paying manufacturing jobs, boosting research and innovation and cutting red tape. Now I don't want to pretend we're always going to agree but I will always seek collaboration first. I won't go looking for fights. I won't back down from them either because I'm not here to play games. I've got a job to do and that brings me to why I'm speaking with all of you here at the auto show. Usually I wait until my state of the state address to lay out an economic vision but this could not wait. This is a serious moment. Right now the future of the entire auto industry is at stake. The very core of Michigan's economy is on the line. So today let's talk about the road ahead. As you all know there's ongoing global competition to build the future of the auto industry and make no mistake other states and nations like China are gunning for Michigan auto jobs. For America to win we must all recognize that all of us are on the same team. Both our state and national economy depend on our ability to work together in Lansing and with our partners in DC. Today almost 1.2 million jobs, one-fifth of Michigan workers are employed directly or indirectly by the auto industry. Think about this these individual jobs pay almost 72 grand. That's higher than the median household income. Since I took office automakers and suppliers have invested a combined 40 billion dollars. That's billion with a b into Michigan. Today we're home to nearly a fifth of all North American auto production. We also have the highest concentration of engineering talent. More than a thousand independent auto suppliers and 62 percent of all American R&D spending in the auto sector. Everyone knows someone whose family and future relies on Michigan making cars and trucks and that includes every one of us in this room. We all know just how much our economy relies on the auto industry and that's why I'll fight alongside any company that invests in Michigan and creates jobs in Michigan. Together we can support Michigan workers from UAW men and women on the assembly line to countless others in R&D, engineering, design, sales and more. In short if the autos succeed Michigan succeeds and America succeeds. Now I want to take us back to December of 2021 when I brought Republicans, Democrats and industry leaders together to establish our bipartisan job fund. It worked. We won billions of dollars worth of transformational projects and since then we've been building on this momentum. Passing brownfield legislation making it easier to convert abandoned buildings into new cutting-edge factories powered by the latest technology. Modernizing renaissance zones to lower costs for companies who invest in areas of our state that had been ignored. Winning hundreds of millions of federal dollars to help manufacturers retool their factories and make sure today's auto workers can be a part of tomorrow's economy including a new program for small suppliers that we'll be launching later this year. And on Monday I stood with business leaders and signed bipartisan legislation to establish an innovation fund and an R&D tax credit. These new tools will launch hundreds of Michigan-based startups, create thousands of good-paying Michigan jobs and increase collaboration with Michigan's world-class universities. Now over the past six years we have moved forward but if we don't keep going we will fall behind. Michigan is still the number one auto state but others have gained ground especially in the south. They want to steal this vital industry away from us but we're Michiganders damn it and we're gonna fight right? These other states like Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina and Kentucky know that once they secure a big auto battery or transmission plant it not only creates thousands of good-paying plant jobs but it also encourages other businesses up and down the supply chain to move too. Because proximity saves companies time and money and it's part of the reason Michigan remains dominant so far. But make no mistake these big factories have gravity. Eventually if enough of them are built elsewhere industry will be pulled out of Michigan's orbit. These other states are using every tool at their disposal. Some of them are just writing blank checks to companies. Now that's bad policy. We can do this in a more thoughtful more strategic way that's accountable to taxpayers. The truth is today we lack speed and flexibility to win though and the tools we do have are going away. It's also no longer enough to just have part makers and assembly plants. To compete in the 21st century today we need battery factories, software companies, chip fabs and startups too. What defines the auto industry is changing in front of us. It's evolving into the auto ecosystem. Now consider all the moving parts, the lines of code, the rare earth materials that go into every vehicle. Owning this ecosystem top to bottom is critical and to build an auto ecosystem we cannot get complacent. We must update our economic toolkit to match our changing reality. Two big obstacles stand in our way. One our bipartisan job fund goes away in a year and two my road bonding plan rebuilding Michigan is phasing out. Losing both without better more comprehensive replacements will throw us off track. It'll harm both our state and our national economy. We see the bad version of this story playing out in Europe right now where Chinese electric cars and batteries are gobbling up market share. European automakers are worried that they're falling behind. More than 12 million European direct and indirect auto industry jobs are at risk. If we don't act that could be our future too. One where we allow companies who are subsidized by the Chinese government to sell at a loss and crush the core of our economy. That's not going to happen. Not on our watch. Instead let's seize this moment. Let's bring both parties together in our legislature and let's support the auto ecosystem we need to continue to dominate. So first we must replace our job fund with new and better tools. We must stay nimble to support businesses that are already here and win new ones too. I know securing these big factories hasn't always been easy but we gotta keep working at it. We can't just unilaterally disarm like some on the far left and far right would have us do. Here's what we can do now. One a new make it Michigan auto job fund to help us close deals and move faster as we compete with other states and nations and land big factories and engineering and tech centers. 10 other states are already doing this. This is critical to design, engineer and build the next generation of vehicles. We don't care what you drive. ICE, hybrid or EV. We just care that it's made right here in Michigan by Michigan workers. Two a new payroll tax cut called hire Michigan. So the more Michigan employees you hire and the better you pay them the more you can save here in Michigan. My predecessor Governor Snyder had this idea first and Senator Sam Singh a Democrat is carrying it It's not politics, it's common sense. We need companies investing here in Michigan to put down roots to create high paying jobs and hire our workers. Three a more streamlined strategic site readiness program to create space for future projects. We know that companies value having shovel ready sites where they can just come in and start building on day one. Let's make it as easy as possible to create jobs in Michigan. Four more investments in housing place making and brownfield redevelopment. Let's boost our housing supply to drive down costs for buyers and renters while improving our neighborhoods and downtowns. And finally five more investments in transit including buses and rail to boost connectivity across areas with lots of industry. That brings us to our second obstacle roads. Auto companies depend on reliable infrastructure to ship goods between raw materials suppliers and factories. The auto ecosystem we want to build is only as strong as the connections between all its parts. We need roads that are safe to help us attract people to our state too. They can't be a punchline. As anyone who drives in Michigan will tell you we have come a long way and you're welcome for all those orange barrels by the way. But the truth is our roads still need work. I'm proud of the work that we've done on key highways and bridges with my rebuilding Michigan bond plan but we are facing a major funding cliff. We need a sustainable long-term solution so we can fix the damn roads using the right mix and materials. If we don't find a solution our roads will get worse and more dangerous and that means expensive car repairs and delays on your drive home. Speaker Hall has said roads are a priority and last fall we got started working on a long-term solution but we didn't quite get there. He said his caucus wants to keep working on this and so do I. So to all my partners in the legislature let's get back to the negotiating table and hammer out a bipartisan deal to get this done in 2025. You know it's not easy but fixing the roads means we all need to recognize some hard truths. To my friends in the GOP fixing the roads in a sustainable way means looking for new fair sources of revenue. We can't just cut our way to better roads. Defunding public safety or public health is not the way to fix potholes and to my friends my fellow Democrats fiscally responsible cuts will need to be a part of the solution too. Michigan families and businesses have already tightened their belts because of high costs. We should do the same and focus our resources on the stuff that matters most roads, school, safety. Let us lead by example. Both parties will have to compromise to do this right and that's the way it ought to be. I'm still open to suggestions on both roads and jobs and I don't care where or who they come from so long as they're serious. What the people of Michigan will not accept is inaction. So the only bad idea is no idea. Moving on another key player in our auto ecosystem is right across the water Ontario. We share culture, crops, craft brews and some would say accents. Michigan is the motor city and Windsor is the automotive capital of Canada. Detroit Windsor is the busiest active border crossing in North America. Driving more than a quarter of the 700 billion dollars of annual trade between our countries. We are still two different countries right? All right thank you Clinton. We've seen what happens when our connection is put at risk. We saw the blockade of the ambassador bridge in 2022 and how hard it hit our auto and ag businesses. Hundreds of millions of dollars move across that border every day and while we may not agree with our Canadian neighbors about everything, I'm proud of the relationship that we've built through agreements on cross-border electric vehicle testing, supply chains, trade and job creation. Over the last few years Canadian businesses have announced 26 projects in Michigan creating over 4,000 jobs. Our relationship is strong and continues to get stronger. I met with Ontario Premier Doug Ford a member of the Conservative Party last month. The Gordie Howe bridge named after Mr. Hockey opens later this year and it's a symbol of our friendship and a driver of economic growth for decades to come. There's been a lot of talk about tariffs recently. I want to be clear I am not opposed to tariffs outright but we cannot treat them like a one-size-fits-all solution and we certainly shouldn't use them to punish our closest trading partners. Doing so hurts all of us, damaging supply chains, slowing production lines and cutting jobs on both sides of the border. Think about this, 70% of all the auto parts we make in Michigan go directly to our neighbors. Every time a Michigan auto part crosses over the border and gets taxed those costs will be passed on to you and to consumers at the dealership. Sometimes those parts cross a couple of times throughout production. That means you'll pay more to buy a Silverado or fix the engine of your Mustang or replace the fender on your Jeep Grand Cherokee. The only winner in that equation is China. They would love nothing more than for us to than to watch us cripple Americans our auto ecosystem all by ourselves. This is a matter of national security. We cannot let that happen and that's why my office has been in active discussion with Premier Ford's team and leadership from the on tariffs, lower the cost of doing business and protect Michigan's industry and consumers. Let's renew our commitment to a stronger relationship with our neighbors and let's build a stronger auto ecosystem and let's take on China together. Today I've spoken about the road ahead and I'm optimistic about our future because I know the journey that we've been on to get here. Over the past six years I've signed more than 1,400 bipartisan bills and six balanced budgets and to those who are keeping score at home nearly a thousand of those were under a Republican controlled legislature. Since I took office we've cut taxes by a billion dollars for seniors and working families, secured nearly 40,000 auto jobs, built 50,000 units of housing, fed students free breakfast and lunch at school, replaced tens of thousands of lead pipes and fixed nearly every major freeway, our rainy day fund at an all-time high, state revenues are strong, GDP is up 35 percent, our credit rating is up, educational attainment, family wealth and incomes are all up too. Our strong fiscal management is paying off and just look at where we are. Michigan is a state on the rise that's turning doubters into dreamers and our Lions are winning big too. Going from a punching bag to a powerhouse we are at the center of America's most exciting story but there's always more to do. If we bring jobs home, fix the damn roads and work with our trading partners we can drive toward a brighter future where our people and our auto industries succeed. As coach Campbell would say, we are built for this man. Michigan is the auto industry and the auto industry is Michigan. Our fates are linked so let's pave the road ahead together. Thank you and enjoy.