Michigan representative on consumer tariffs and CR deal

WASHINGTON (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Represenative Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about consumer tariffs.

Brennan brought up data saying Michigan "lost more than 220,000 manufacturing jobs over the past 30 years."

Brennan also said Vice President J.D. Vance was in Michigan saying, "this entire Trump strategy is about industrial resurgence," prompting her to ask Representative Dingell if it was landing where she lives, and Dingell said:

"I'm somebody that answers this differently than many. I believe that tariffs are a tool in the tool box...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 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 way that lets everybody plan for it."

During the interview, Brennan and Dingell talked about avoiding a government shutdown, with Brennan saying Senate Democrats ultimately did vote with "Republicans on this short term funding deal."

Brennan then followed up saying Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) speaking on another network Sunday morning, saying "it would have been a risk to shut down the government, but it was worth taking."

This prompted Brennan to ask Dingell if she agrees with Senator Murphy's statement, to which Dingell said, "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."

To watch more of Brennan's interview with Dingell, click here.