JD Vance criticizes Gotion plant at rally near Big Rapids

GREEN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance visited the Big Rapids area Tuesday, a day after former President Donald Trump visited Michigan.

During a rally at Majestic Friesians Horse Farms, Vance criticized Vice President Kamala Harris’ economic policy plans and said she was responsible for high inflation. Calling her a “cog in a wheel of a very corrupt system,” he blamed her and President Joe Biden for trade deals that he claimed moved Midwestern manufacturing jobs overseas.

“Proud towns became ghost towns, dignified American workers became dependent on the government and families, including a lot of families like mine, fell apart under financial stress,” Vance said.

He touted the economic policies Trump enacted as president, praising his tariffs on Chinese goods and saying they were responsible for lowering the price of goods and led to more domestic manufacturing jobs.

“When you make your own stuff with the hands of American workers, the whole country prospers. We know that in Michigan better than anywhere,” Vance said.

Last week, Majestic Friesians Horse Farms hosted a rally for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers in opposition to a planned electric vehicle battery plant by Chinese-owned Gotion. The plant has become a political focal point, with Republicans expressing suspicion of the company’s ties to the communist Chinese government.

On Tuesday, Vance said legislation Harris voted yes on in her role as president of the U.S. Senate created a pathway for the Gotion project.

“That vote also made Chinese companies like Gotion eligible for billions of your taxpayer dollars,” Vance said. “Kamala Harris not only wants to allow the Chinese Communist Party to build factories on American soil, she wants to pay them to do it with our tax money.”

He went on to suggest the plant is a threat to national security. He also said the Chinese government has worked to weaken the American automotive industry.

Gotion leaders have said the company has no plot to spread communism , also pointing out there are hundreds of other Chinese-owned companies in Michigan.

DEMOCRATS: TRUMP POLICY FACILITATED GOTION PLANT

At a news conference Tuesday morning before Vance’s speech, U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Grand Rapids, state Rep. Carol Glanville, D-Walker, and members of the United Food and Commercial Workers union argued that the Trump campaign has itself to blame for the controversy surrounding that plant. Scholten said the economic plan that allowed the Gotion plant to come to fruition started under the Trump administration. Now, with the U.S. House of Representative’s China commission in place, she said oversight has been established to maximize competition with China while promoting American jobs.

“We can’t throw the baby out with the bathwater,” Scholten said. “Let’s make sure that we’ve got smart investments here in West Michigan. Just because we’ve got some ties to China doesn’t mean that we should prevent good-paying jobs from coming right here to West Michigan, but let’s make sure we’re doing it in a smart way.”

They argued a second Trump presidency could threaten Social Security and Medicare while providing tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations.

“Donald Trump, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, is always looking to make a deal,” Scholten said. “Listen, I don’t begrudge any businessman that wants to make a deal and make a buck in the private sector — that is American entrepreneurship, go for it. But we’re not going to let him sell out America and American workers to the highest bidder.”

“All of the benefits that we all enjoy come because the unions set that standard for us,” Glanville said. “If we wipe out that tradition, we’re just going to be going back, way back, far behind our peers in the world.”

THE IMPORTANCE OF MICHIGAN

Tuesday’s campaign stop marked Vance’s fourth trip to Michigan since the junior senator from Ohio was named Trump’s running mate on July 15. He was with Trump at a rally in Grand Rapids July 20, at a police department in southeast Michigan Aug. 7 and at a materials trucking company south of Grand Rapids on Aug. 14 . Trump spoke at the National Guard Association general conference in Detroit Monday.

“I want us to send a message. … Michigan is going red. Michigan is leading the great American comeback and Michigan is going to elect Donald J. Trump the next president of the United States,” Vance concluded his remarks Tuesday.

Both sides hope winning the combination of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania will forge a clear path to the White House. A recent poll from the Cook Political Report Swing State Project showed a tight race in Michigan: Harris had a 3-point lead over Trump, a statistical tie considering the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 4.9%.

Doug Emhoff, Harris’ husband, is expected to visit Grand Rapids on Thursday.

The presidential election is Nov. 5.

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