we ve got to remember, this is about workers values right now too. we need a strong manufacturing base, but we need a level playing field for the workers, and our workers aren t on a level playing field when gm puts a blazer plant in mexico and pays $1.58 an hour. that s not a level playing field. and i think everybody can understand that doesn t feel fair, but what do you do to make american manufacturing more competitive? this is the quandary we re in, right? this is the thing that donald trump ran on, that bernie sanders ran on. what do you do to square this thing? we have to have trade deals. i have told the president trump i would work with him on trade deals. that is part of the problem. we do have countries like china who steal our intellectual property and subsidize goods with the ultimate goal of destroying our manufacturing and then raising the prices. we have to fight that. i will work with the president to do that, but it can t be
so what are michigan voters looking for? you are one of the few people that predicted that president trump was likely to win michigan in 2016. you saw and heard his appeal to working class voters in your state. do you hear anything that that was 16. looking at 2020, do you hear anything different in 2020 that democrats are going to fare any better here now? 2018, a lot of people were worried. we elected a democratic ticket up and down and an all-woman ticket. i think you re going to talk about mccomb county the next couple of days. down river are like that county and they ve got a lot of hard working people. the economy is doing better. as democrats, we ve got to show them that we care about them and trade deals that have shipped their jobs to mexico. that we care that they re competing with mexico that pays $1.50. general motors but a blazer
with them the last couple weeks. did an op-ed in the detroit news over the weekend. i have talked to i have even talked to the president about this. but i talked to ambassador li t lighthizer multiple times. i want everybody to remember what nafta 1.0 did, which was ship jobs overseas. i will not support anything in terms of a new nafta trade agreement that doesn t keep plants here in the united states and doesn t allow people to continue to build plants in mexico. general motors moved the blazer plant to mexico, announced that only several months ago. we re all going to be working together to keep building and manufacturing in this country and not mexico. but no direct new word from gm to you on this? not i mean, i have been talking to gm. i never blind side them. i tell them you used to work there. i did used to work there, and many people i know there. and i have talked to them regularly, as i have the uaw.