President Donald Trump praised Gretchen Whitmer at Wednesday’s White House meeting and echoed the bipartisan message that Michigan Governor conveyed in his early speech in Washington, D.C.
The meeting was Whitmer’s second sit-in with President since he took office. She grew an ongoing ice storm in northern Michigan, invested in investments at Selfridges Air National Guard bases outside of Detroit, invasive fish from the Great Lakes, and the hottest topic of the day: tariffs. According to a spokesman for the governor.
Trump spoke proactively about Whitmer’s leadership and took her to an oval office with him.
“I’m honored to have Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, the great state of Michigan. She’s done a really great job. She’s a really good person,” Trump said.
A Whitmer spokesperson said she was “shocked at how she was brought to an oval office” for Trump’s press conference.
Whitmer emerged as one of the leading democratic candidates to run for president in 2028. Despite the governor claiming he has not set himself in the White House, Whitmer appeared in her term limit in 2026, successfully repeating voters in the states that Trump carried twice.
In an order signed by Trump, he began investigating two of his first-term aides: former Secretary of Land, Miles Taylor and former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Chris Krebs. The president accused Taylor of being a treasonous Krebs, then stripped both of his security clearances and repeated false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
“Her presence is not an endorsement of actions or statements made at the event,” a Whitmer spokesperson said.
Whitmer’s approach with Trump on Wednesday contrasted with solid criticism that was united around many of the Democratic platforms, particularly tariffs. Other Democrat governors, like Colorado Gov. Jared Police and Illinois Gov. JB Pretzker, have come to the forefront of 2028, have denounced the tariff as a tax on the average American family.
Whitmer struck a different tone in his speech, highlighting their common foundations related to building manufacturing jobs in Michigan.
“I understand the motivation behind tariffs. Here President Trump and I agree. We need to make more things in America,” Whitmer said. “I’m not completely opposed to tariffs, but they are dull tools. You can’t destroy a tariff hammer to shake up with any problem without a well-defined end goal.”
She promoted tariff exemptions for the auto and energy industries, which are important to Michigan’s economy. Trump’s 90-day suspension on tariffs does not include those imposed on automobile imports.
The reconciliation relationship is a departure from Trump’s first terminology, where he and Whitmer plunge their heads repeatedly. Particularly regarding response to the Covid-19 pandemic Trump called her incompetent. He also called her a “Michigan woman.” Played on x’s post.
As for Trump’s second term, Whitmer signaled that she was open to working with the president to help her state.
“If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu,” the governor told journalist Gretchen Carlson at an event Wednesday.
