U.S. President Donald Trump commemorates his first 100 days at a rally in Michigan, and he has promised to bring his work back to the United States.
The White House, known as the "Achievement Speech," Tuesday's rally at Macomb County Community College was met with approval ratings and miserable consumer confidence as Trump has been pursuing normative trade, immigration and government overhauls.
Still, Trump praised what he called "the most successful 100 days in any administration in our country's history."
"That's what many people say," he added. "Everyone is saying...we're just starting out."
The president was like on the campaign trail, Lee Greenwood walked onto the stage, Lee Greenwood.
He quickly moved to familiar rally fares, saying his administration “ends illegal immigration,” “gets back our work,” “restores the rule of law,” and gets what he calls “wakes and trans people’s insanity.”
He also jabs on former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris, continuing years-long attacks on the U.S. media and falsely claiming that Democrats are trying to "dig" the 2024 election.
Trump then focused on his tariff policy, which stirred up global markets and caused uneasiness among industry leaders.
Hours ago, Trump signed an executive order to try to ease some tariff pressures driven by U.S. automakers. The order will prevent Trump from "stacking" various tariffs on imports of automatic parts of U.S.-made vehicles.
His government imposed a 25% tariff on foreign auto imports, a 10% tariff on blankets for almost all trading partners, a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum, and a 25% tariff on trade with Mexico and Canada, without involving pre-existing transactions.
Trump has made the move part of a hard reset that forced the industry back to the United States, a statement he repeated to reporters in his speech in Michigan.
"They all want to go back to Michigan to build cars again," he said. "You know why? Because of our tax and tariff policies."
Al Jazeera's Patty Culhane said in a rally report that the location is important. Trump won the so-called battlefield in Michigan last year’s election, but the state and its reliance on the automotive industry are likely one of the worst hits his tariff policy has taken.
"We're only about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the road in Detroit, Michigan. It's the home of the 'Big Three' automakers: General Motors, Ford and Stralandis," Coulhaan said.
“We have seen automakers do violate these tariffs because, as Donald Trump would like to see, there is little car manufacturing in the United States,” she said.
“At the same time, in the crowd, you’ll see a lot of t-shirts saying ‘UAW’, United Auto Workers Union. The alliance has put forward these tariffs because they believe that in the long run, it will force companies to bring their jobs back to the United States.”
Recent polls show that enthusiasm among Trump supporters of the Michigan Rally is not reflected in the wider public, with nearly all major pollsters finding that nearly all polls have been higher than the president’s approval in recent days.
These included separate morning consultations and the New York Times/Siena poll, which showed 54% disapproval, a Maris University poll that showed 53% disapproval and IPSOS poll recorded 55% disapproval.
Trump sees the polls as "fake" and runs them by "a bunch of bent people."
Hours ago, on Tuesday, the Conference Committee, an organization tracking U.S. economic perspectives, released new data showing confidence in U.S. consumers.
Confidence fell by 7.9 points to 86 in April as Trump’s tariff rollout led to widespread economic uncertainty, the lowest level since May 2020 during the Covid-19-19 pandemic.
No new trade deal has been reached since the announcement of specific tariffs in a particular country, and then paused, but Trump told his supporters that officials “from around the world, meet your president.”
"They want to reach an agreement," he said.