President Donald Trump announced new tariffs on Wednesday, including a 10% baseline tax on imports from all countries, and higher tax rates for dozens of nations.
The president invited Brian Pannebecker, a retired autoworker from Macomb County, to speak during the news conference.
“He understands this business a lot better than the economists, a lot better than anybody. Brian, say a few words, please,” Trump said.
The retired autoworker, who is the founder of Auto Workers for Trump, said the following:
“Thank you, Mr. President,” Pannebecker said. “I grew up just north of Detroit, Michigan, in Macomb County, known as the home of the Reagan Democrats. My first vote for president was for Ronald Reagan. I thought that was gonna be the best president I ever saw in my lifetime until Donald J. Trump came along.”
“My entire life I have watched plant after plant after plant in Detroit and in the Metro Detroit area close,” Pannebecker said. There are now plants that are underutilized, and Donald Trump’s policies are going to bring product back into those underutilized plants."
Pannebecker brought 20 UAW members with him to the news conference. “We support Donald Trump’s policies on tariffs 100%,” said Pannebecker.
“So, Mr. President, we can’t thank you enough and in six months or a year, we’re going to begin to see the benefits,” said Pannebecker. “I can’t wait to see what’s happening three or four years down the road. Thank you, Mr. President.”
After Pannebecker finished speaking, Trump said, “What a great guy. He got it right from the beginning.”
“We won Michigan by a lot,” Trump said and thanked the autoworkers.
Trump held up a chart when he spoke about the tariffs, showing that the U.S. would impose a 34% tax on imports from China, a 20% tax on imports from the European Union, 25% on South Korea, 24% on Japan, 32% on Taiwan and 37% on goods from Bangladesh.
You can watch Pannebecker’s full speech in the video below:
