Governor Gretchen Whitmer met with President Donald Trump and members of his cabinet in a Tuesday visit to the White House.
“I told him and his team about the impact tariffs are having on Michigan’s economy, especially our auto industry, the harm Michigan will face due to changes in the Medicaid program, and ongoing recovery efforts following the ice storm in Northern Michigan this year,” Whitmer said in a statement released by her office.
Whitmer said she asked the president for a three-year window to phase in the Medicaid cuts so the state could come up with a plan to manage the effects on 2.6 million Michiganders, including children, the elderly in nursing homes and people in rural areas who could lose access to health care providers.
The governor said she also told Trump that tariffs levied on goods from Canada and Mexico would cause big problems for the auto sector. The governor also asked for help in finding a business to fill an empty manufacturing mega-site in Genesee County after Michigan failed to win a $63 billion semiconductor chip factory.
The Democratic governor said she had no qualms about partnering with a Republican president with whom she once had a fractious relationship.
“That’s why I’ve continued to go to Washington, D.C. to make sure that Michiganders are front and center when critical decisions are being made,” she said. “This year alone, we’ve secured major, bipartisan wins including a new fighter mission at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County, funding to protect our Great Lakes from invasive carp, and federal disaster support for communities in Northern Michigan impacted by historic ice storms.”
Whitmer last visited the White House in April. Whitmer’s office said she also met Tuesday with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
