Trump said America could look like Detroit. Here's what Detroit could look like under Trump

While campaigning for president last year, Donald Trump — who, of course, won said campaign — remarked that all of America would “look like Detroit” if his then-opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris, won the White House.

We now live in the reality where Trump’s America, which actually does look a lot like Detroit already in some respects, is taking shape — and could soon look radically different than under the previous Biden administration.

Moments after delivering his inauguration speech, Trump signed a flurry of executive orders on January 20, and has continued to alter or challenge existing policy in the week since. Using bits from his speech and some of the orders signed thus far, here’s how new policy could affect Detroiters.

A broad, but unspecific, promise for “Black and Hispanic communities.” In his inaugural speech, Trump extended gratitude to Black and Latino voters, saying “I want to thank you for the tremendous outpouring of love and trust that you have shown me with your vote.  We set records, and I will not forget it.  I’ve heard your voices in the campaign, and I look forward to working with you in the years to come.”

What that means exactly is yet to be determined, but no doubt residents of Detroit — which is mostly Black, and contains one of the largest Latino populations in the state of Michigan — should be paying attention to what that means. (Notably left out of those remarks were Arab Americans — and that’s with the consideration that there were several populations that weren’t specifically mentioned.)

A revocation of the Obama-era electric vehicle mandate, which called for a gradual phase-out of internal-combustion engines and implementation of a nationwide electric-vehicle charging network. “With my actions today, we will end the Green New Deal, and we will revoke the electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto industry and keeping my sacred pledge to our great American autoworkers,” Trump said in his speech.

On one hand, Trump’s comments suggest that autoworkers — something that Detroit clearly has a lot of — won’t be put out of work. “We will build automobiles in America again at a rate that nobody could have dreamt possible just a few years ago.  And thank you to the autoworkers of our nation for your inspiring vote of confidence.  We did tremendously with their vote.”

On the other, all of Michigan’s major automakers have already begun to move toward all-electric lineups, including phasing out gas-powered models, retooling factories for electric builds, and hire more designers and engineers — much of Ford’s campus development in Corktown depends on this — geared toward a more electric, automated future. What a moratorium in EV production and slowdown on the ICE phaseout means for Detroit could have mixed results, particularly if another Trump mandate closely tied to Detroit’s automotive industry takes effect.

A change in imports and trade. “I will immediately begin the overhaul of our trade system to protect American workers and families.  Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens,” Trump said on Monday.

That could have ripple effect on everything, from the chickpeas and olive oil that go into Middle Eastern cuisine to the designed-in-Stockholm, made-in-Bangladesh shirts at the downtown H&M. What could be hit hard are the international trade crossings — the largest and busiest being the Ambassador Bridge — at the Detroit-Windsor border. And just as much as Detroit ships out from local factories, just as much comes in — think supplier parts from China and other countries that power everything from seat belts, airbags, brakes and backup cameras found in not just cars from American manufacturers, but the many foreign automakers like Toyota and Honda that have research and development firms in Michigan and factories dotted across the U.S.

“For this purpose, we are establishing the External Revenue Service to collect all tariffs, duties, and revenues.  It will be massive amounts of money pouring into our Treasury, coming from foreign sources,” Trump added on his plans for trade and tariffs.

A change in affirmative action. “This week, I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life.  We will forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based,” Trump said.

Diversity, equity and inclusion efforts can factor into nearly all parts of public life: Buying a house, getting a mortgage, pursuing a higher education, getting a job. Michigan colleges have been the center of debates around affirmative action, and how each college now approaches having a diverse student body could change — particularly with Wayne State University, which notably implemented a concentrated effort to recruit and retain Black students after statistics showed Black students were less likely to succeed in earning a degree from the Midtown school.