Letter: Kamala Harris wrong on Trump's record in Michigan

Last week in an op-ed, Joe Biden’s running mate Kamala Harris painted a dark and gloomy picture for Michigan workers, complete with empty campaign promises that we are accustomed to from Democrats at this point (Re: “Unions can help America build back better after COVID-19,” Sept. 6).

Harris accused Republicans of pushing “anti-worker” policies, and then claimed that President Trump is responsible for a decline in Michigan motor vehicle jobs. However, the Bureau of Labor Statistics data Harris used as “proof” says otherwise.

Because Trump fought so hard to reverse the Biden-supported job-killing 1994 NAFTA trade deal, manufacturers added 499,000 American jobs, expanding by 4% in Trump’s first 30 months in office. In the same 30-month time span during the mature, post-recovery phase of the business cycle, some 314,000 more manufacturing jobs were added under Trump than under former President Barack Obama — a 170% advantage.

While Michigan lost 210,800 manufacturing jobs from January 1994 to November 2016 due to the Biden-championed NAFTA, the Trump administration’s UMSCA is expected to create at least $34 billion in new U.S. automotive investment over five years. Because Canada and Mexico purchase more manufactured goods from Michigan than the rest of the world combined, passage of the USMCA was critical for Michigan manufacturers and workers.

Harris falsely claimed that Trump’s tax cuts only helped the wealthiest and largest corporations. According to the Tax Foundation, the average tax cut for a worker making between $50,000 and $75,000 in Michigan was $1,400. Additionally, over the next decade, the Trump administration’s tax cuts are estimated to create more than 36,000 jobs benefiting both workers and corporations alike. In 2018 alone, the tax cuts created an estimated 6,400 jobs in Michigan.

Thanks to Trump’s pro-growth policies like tax cuts and deregulation, our great state recovered from the failures of the Obama administration, and now Trump is leading our state through another economic comeback as we recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

The United States has added back 10.6 million new jobs over the last four months, with more than a half million of them coming back to Michigan. And the Paycheck Protection Program created when Trump signed the CARES Act into law has protected 1.6 million jobs in the state.

Unlike the twisted and warped story told by Harris, Trump has spent the last four years rebuilding the American economy after decades of bad deals that saw our jobs shipped overseas. And now he is in the process of rebuilding the economy once again.

State Rep. Matt Maddock, R-Milford

Michigan's 44th District