The following is the transcript of an interview with Rep. Debbie Dingell, Democrat of Michigan, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on March 16, 2025.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We’re joined now by Michigan Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell. Good to have you here, and happy early St. Patrick’s Day.
REPRESENTATIVE DEBBIE DINGELL: Top of the morning to you.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Congresswoman, I want to talk about the impact of these tariffs and potential tariffs, because you’re from the manufacturing hub of Michigan. We were looking at the data- Michigan’s lost more than 220,000 manufacturing jobs over the past 30 years. The vice president was out in Michigan this week. He says, this is- this entire Trump strategy is about industrial resurgence. Is that landing where you live?
REP. DINGELL: So I’m somebody that answers this differently than many. I believe that tariffs are a tool in the tool box. And if you recall, I said Donald Trump would win in 2-16 and nobody believed me. And I was right. And it was one issue. It was trade. NAFTA was one of the worst pieces of trade legislation in the history of this country. It sent tons of jobs overseas. And President Trump came in, I worked with them, we renegotiated it, we have USMCA. The way that the tariffs are being done now is- it’s made a pingpong ball of the auto industry. I think they’re a tool that we can look at, we need to be using them against China, but I think they’re being selectively applied. The domestic auto companies are complying with USMCA. There’s no way that in a month’s time when they have such an integrated inventory and production- production plans, where a part will go over the border several times to make the changes that need to happen. So I want to work with this administration. I think the 25% tariffs are too high. They’re placing an unfair burden. The autos are a pingpong ball in a big war. I want to bring manufacturing home. I want to bring supply chains home. We need an industrial policy, tariffs are part of it. Let’s just do it in a- a way that lets everybody plan for it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: The automakers, the Big Three, called President Trump. That was partly how this April 2 push-off of some of these tariffs happened, their persuasion. Do you have any idea how long it would take to build the kind of plants and to bring all the manufacturing home like President Trump is asking of them?
REP. DINGELL: So if everything were to go right–which, like, in this world, does anything ever go right?–it’s going to take two to three years. Our suppliers, also, there are many- and by the way, we need to immediately renegotiate USMCA. It’s time to look at it. And I think we need to be treating Mexico and Canada as different trading partners. Mexico–
MARGARET BRENNAN: You support this idea of- Secretary Rubio was basically saying bilateral–
REP. DINGELL: Totally. I- I–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –not North America as a–
REP. DINGELL: Totally. Canada would never let China build a plant in China and then market it as a North American vehicle. And we need to make sure that that never happens. I’m totally on board on that. But right now, as we’re talking about the aluminum and the steel tariffs, to- 60% of aluminum in this country that’s being used is coming in from Canada. You take a 25% tariff on that, the profit on automobiles is very small. It’s- it’s not a big- the companies just can’t eat that. But we got to figure it out. I am not against trade policy. We just have to do it in a way that doesn’t- I don’t believe Donald Trump wants to destroy the domestic auto industry. I think we all got to work together to keep the domestic auto industry strong. And even as we’re doing Canada and Mexico, do you realize that Korea and Japan are still able- they brought 2.5 million vehicles in, Korea with no tariff, and Japan with 2.5. Not treating everybody equally.
MARGARET BRENNAN: S&P Global says there’s potential for North American auto production to drop by 20,000 units a day, starting this week. That’s because of the tariffs. So it’s having–
REP. DINGELL: All companies need certainty. Automobiles need certainty. They need to not be a pingpong ball.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Are you talking to the Commerce Secretary or the Trade Representative? Is there any conversation?
REP. DINGELL: I have not talked to the Commerce Secretary. I’ve talked to Bob Lighthizer who I worked very closely with–
MARGARET BRENNAN: The former advisor–
REP. DINGELL: –the former trade advisor. And I worked very closely with President Trump in two- I totally- I said he would win. Democrats did a lousy job on trade.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Speaking of Democrats and their performance, I want to ask you what happened this past week. We came near a shutdown. Ultimately, Democrats in the Senate did vote with Republicans on this short term funding deal. Senator Murphy of Connecticut was on another network this morning, and he said it would have been a risk to shut down the government, but it was probably worth taking.
REP. DINGELL: You know–
MARGARET BRENNAN: You agree?
REP. DINGELL: Well, in the House, we were almost united, save one, and there were very strong feelings in the House about what people thought that the Senate should do.
MARGARET BRENNAN: The Senate Leader Chuck Schumer would say, you were able to do that because there was wiggle room on votes–
REP. DINGELL: But I’m gonna–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –the republicans voted as a block.
REP. DINGELL: I think he sent out mixed signals. I think if–
MARGARET BRENNAN: Schumer did?
REP. DINGELL: Senator Schumer sent out mixed signals. And I’ve talked to a lot of labor last week. AFGE, whose employees were going to be impacted the most, were very torn about what to do because- concerned about their employees, so I’m meeting with [them] daily when I’m out there- came out against supporting it, because they felt like they were already being harmed. There was already just a license for DOGE to go ahead and do whatever it wants. They’re not including Congress, not abiding with it, people are being hurt. But Margaret, people are angry. We got to move on. Reconciliation is coming up. We have got to be united as Democrats in making sure reconciliation- and we protect people from having their health care cut, Medicaid cut, Social Security cut, or Medicare cut in any way, shape or form.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Can Leader Jeffries actually maintain that kind of unity in the house?
REP. DINGELL: He showed you that he could do it last week. And I can tell you that when- I don’t think anybody has been home. If you’re home, my town halls look like a Republican town hall. I’m not taking it personally. People are scared. They want to see us do something.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You mean people are shouting, people are angry, people are upset.
REP. DINGELL: They want to see Democrats fighting back, and they’re really scared about what’s going to happen to them, particularly on seniors. And I was in- went to my asthma doctor, and a woman in a wheelchair with her child started crying with me in the hospital. What are you going to do so my child can still come here?
MARGARET BRENNAN: Congresswoman, thank you. We’ll have to leave it there for today. We’ll be back in a moment.
