Speaking at a rally in Michigan to mark his first 100 days in office, US President Donald Trump has promised to bring back jobs to the United States.
Dubbed an “achievement speech” by the White House, the rally on Tuesday at the Macomb County Community College comes amid slumping approval ratings and dismal consumer confidence as Trump has pursued norm-busting trade, immigration and government overhauls.
Still, Trump hailed what he called “the most successful first 100 days of any administration in the history of our country”.
“And that’s according to many, many people,” he added. “And everyone is saying it… We’ve just gotten started”.
The president walked onto the stage to God Bless the USA by Lee Greenwood, as he did on the campaign trail.
He quickly shifted to his familiar rally fare, saying his administration was “ending illegal immigration”, “taking back our jobs”, “restoring the rule of law” and getting what he called “woke lunacy and transgender insanity the hell out of our government”.
He also took jabs at former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, continued his years-long attack on the US media and falsely claimed that Democrats attempted to “rig” the 2024 election.
Trump then pivoted to his tariff policy, which has roiled global markets and caused disquiet among industry leaders.
Hours earlier, Trump signed an executive order seeking to ease some tariff pressures amid pushback from US auto manufacturers. The order would prevent “stacking” of Trump’s various tariffs on auto part imports for vehicles manufactured in the US.
His administration has imposed 25 percent tariffs on foreign auto imports, blanket 10 percent levies on nearly all trade partners, 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminium, as well as 25 percent tariffs on trade with Mexico and Canada not covered under a pre-existing deal.
Trump has framed the moves as part of a hard reset to force industries back to the US, a claim he repeated to reporters in his Michigan speech.
“They all want to come back to Michigan and build cars again,” he said. “You know why? Because of our tax and tariff policy.”
Michigan significant
Reporting from the rally, Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane said the location was significant. Trump won the so-called battleground state of Michigan in the election last year, but the state, and its reliance on the auto industry, could be one of the hardest hit by his tariff policy.
“We’re just about 20 miles [32km] down the road from Detroit, Michigan. That’s the home of the ‘Big Three’ automakers: General Motors, Ford and Stellantis,” Culhane said.
“We’ve seen automakers really come out against these tariffs because virtually no car is made completely in the United States, as Donald Trump wants to see happen,” she said.
“Meanwhile, in the crowd, you see a lot of T-shirts that say ‘UAW’, the United Auto Workers union. The union came out in favour of these tariffs because they believe, in the long run, it will force companies to bring jobs back to the US.”
Recent polls have shown the enthusiasm among Trump’s supporters at the Michigan rally is not reflected among the wider public, with nearly every major pollster finding higher disapproval than approval for the president in recent days.
These included separate Morning Consult and New York Times/Siena polls that showed 54 percent disapproval, a Marist College poll that showed 53 percent disapproval and an Ipsos poll that recorded 55 percent disapproval.
Trump dismissed the polls as “fake” and run by a “bunch of crooked people”.
Hours earlier on Tuesday, The Conference Board, an organisation that tracks views on the US economy, released new data showing tanking US consumer confidence.
Confidence fell 7.9 points to 86 in April as Trump’s tariff rollout caused widespread economic uncertainty, the lowest level since May 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While no new trade deals have been reached since the country-specific tariffs were announced, and then paused, Trump told his supporters that officials were “coming from all over the world to see your president”.
“They want to make a deal,” he said.