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Gov. Whitmer in Washington
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer failed to get President Donald Trump to bend on tariffs during her visit to Washington on Wednesday. But she did, for what it's worth, get a consolation prize — a compliment.
The two-term governor, who had tangled with Trump during his previous term, went to Washington on Wednesday to try and convince the president to exempt imported vehicles from tariffs. Trump didn't budge.
She, like many economists and auto executives, fears severe fallout from the administration's 25 percent tariffs on vehicles and auto parts.
But what would have seemed an impossibility years ago became a reality when Trump offered kind words for Whitmer, who had met, along with Michigan Republican state Rep. Matt Hall, with him in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
Trump said he was "honored to have Gretchen Whitmer from Michigan, the great State of Michigan, and she's been, she's really done an excellent job, very good person."
In 2020, Whitmer said that Trump, during the pandemic, was “denying science, ignoring his own health experts, stoking distrust, fomenting anger, and giving comfort to those who spread fear, hatred, and division."
Trump responded by saying she'd done a "terrible job."
