STERLING HEIGHTS, Michigan — President Donald Trump promised that his tariff policies would make the country richer and would bring in enough revenue to eliminate the need for income tax and to pay down the country’s debt. Instead, Trump voters in Michigan told MS NOW they feel poorer, as income tax is still on the books and the national debt has soared to $40 trillion.

Increased prices due to tariffs continue to pinch consumers across the country, and few are paying a higher price than Michiganders.

In September, a study for the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, a nonpartisan “small government” research group, estimated that the impact of tariffs on Michigan households since January 2025 has been somewhere between $23 billion and $26 billion, which breaks down to an estimated burden of about $6,000 per household.

“I hate them. They suck,” Dennis Walls, a three-time Trump voter who works in landscaping and is looking for a second job, said of tariffs.

Walls, who is from Imlay City, said the tariffs have made groceries more expensive and cost his landscaping business more for equipment.

“Our backpacks, leaf-blowing backpacks, stick edges, weed whackers, machines, even keep going up higher and higher,” he said.

Michigan’s exposure to Trump’s trade war is amplified by its proximity to Canada and the deep ties between their economies. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative estimated that Michigan exported $23.2 billion in goods to Canada in 2025. The Canadian government estimated it exported about $43.5 billion in goods to Michigan that same year.

This year, Trump imposed significant tariffs on Canada, drawing retaliation from Canada — which ended in a stalemate this September, when tariffs on billions of dollars of goods went into effect.

Kenneth Matthews, 57, is another three-time Trump voter who’s juggling work at a factory and his own lawn care business.

“I’m pissed off about them,” he said. “It’s even harder when you’re running your own business.”

Matthews said he regrets his support for Trump.

“He’s not making America great again. He’s putting us farther in the hole,” he said.

His message to the president is simple: “Knock the tariffs off. Get rid of them. We shouldn’t have them.”

Michigan’s historic automotive industry is on the front line of the trade wars Trump has picked with Canada and Mexico. But it’s the small businesses that keep the industry humming that are being hit hardest.

Andi Asliwa, 28, is an owner and mechanic at New Testament Auto Service in Sterling Heights. The entrepreneur told MS NOW that the tariffs are making his business untenable as he has to pass on higher prices for parts to his customers.

I think the richer people got richer, but the average person — no, it’s tearing us apart.”

—Andi Asliwa

“I used to get brake pads for $35, $25. Now they’re $70 and up,” said Asliwa, who voted for Trump in 2024. He said his brake pads are imported from China, and he’s sticking with them as they remain less expensive than domestically produced brake pads, which he said are worse quality.

Asked how the tariffs have affected the country, Asliwa said, “I think the richer people got richer, but the average person — no, it’s tearing us apart.”

Last month, Trump announced an import ban on select Canadian alcoholic beverages, and Canada retaliated, putting bars on both sides of the border on the rocks. But it’s not just the booze that’s drying up; it’s also the boycott by Canadian tourists, spurred by the escalating trade war, that’s making a dent on Michiganders’ bottom lines.

Bob Roberts owns McShane’s Irish Pub & Whiskey Bar in Detroit, which employs 32 people. Roberts, who voted for Trump in 2016, said Canadian tourists from just across the border in Windsor, Ontario, have stopped their patronage.

You would see Canadian plates everywhere. Now you walk around, you don’t see any Canadian plates at all.”

—Bob Roberts

“We used to enjoy a pretty big crowd from Canada, because they have no sports teams there,” Roberts said. “You would see Canadian plates everywhere. Now you walk around, you don’t see any Canadian plates at all.”

Roberts put the damage to his revenue from the Canadian tourism boycott at about 15%, or about $30,000. He said the hospitality industry in Detroit right now is “fragile.”

“If you continue down the road that we’re on, there’s not going to be any way that I can survive as a restaurateur, and because of that, you know, I’ll go out of business,” Roberts said.

Roberts said he is still undecided on whether he will vote for Democrat Abdul El-Sayed or Republican Rep. Mike Rogers for Michigan’s Senate seat.

“If these tariffs don’t get cleared up, if the Republicans win either the House or the Senate — I mean, there needs to be a dramatic change in Washington,” he said.

“Otherwise, I mean, quite frankly, we’re screwed,” he added.

El-Sayed has opposed Trump’s tariff policy from the beginning of his campaign, in contrast to Rogers, who only came out against the president’s trade war with Canada with less than a month before Election Day.

“As a politician, he came out in support of Canada and against the trade wars; in my opinion, [he] came out a little late,” Roberts said of Rogers.

“It doesn’t pass the sniff test: It smells like politics, as opposed to being genuine,” he added.

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