KOCHVILLE TOWNSHIP, Mich. >> Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump told a crowd in Saginaw County, Mich., Thursday that he believes Michigan will be the “biggest beneficiary” of his much-debated plan to place tariffs on goods imported into the United States.

Trump made the statement during an 80-minute speech on the campus of Saginaw Valley State University, 33 days before the Nov. 5 election and a day ahead of a scheduled Flint, Mich., campaign stop by Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.

Michigan is one of a seven battleground states that are expected to decide the race and because Michigan is home to major carmakers, it could serve as a test this fall of the two candidates’ manufacturing messages.

In front of a crowd of a few thousand people inside the Ryder Center for Health and Physical Education on Thursday, Trump railed against illegal immigration and touted his plans to lower the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15% for companies that operate in the U.S. and place tariffs on products made elsewhere.

“We’re going to make so much money,” Trump told the crowd. “We’re going to bring back so much business. And I think this state will be the biggest beneficiary.”

Trump also criticized United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, arguing that the union leader doesn’t know what he’s doing, and claimed the push to promote electric vehicles would lead to jobs leaving Michigan.

“If I’m not elected, you will not be making any more cars in Michigan,” Trump said.

Democrats have countered that U.S. residents will be forced to foot the bill for the tariffs Trump plans to impose and Trump would risk large projects to build electric vehicles and car batteries that are planned in Michigan and elsewhere. The Harris campaign has described the tariff-centered economic proposal as “a national sales tax.”

The gym where Trump spoke on Thursday didn’t appear to be at capacity with a smattering of seats appearing to be empty as he took the stage at about 3:20 p.m.

Trump described the attendees as “very energetic.” The event marked his 11th visit to Michigan this year.

“Whoever fills big places like this at 3 o’clock in the afternoon?” Trump asked, touting the size of crowd.

Court filing

His appearance in Michigan came a day after a court filing from a federal special counsel laid out new details of an alleged criminal scheme by the former president to overturn the result of the 2020 election. The brief was made public over the Trump legal team’s objections in the final month of a closely contested presidential race.

The former president did not address the criminal prosecution he faces for allegedly orchestrating an illegal scheme to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

“We want a landslide (victory) that’s too big to rig,” Trump said at one point.

Michigan was one of six states about which Smith detailed, in their own individual sections of the court filing, Trump’s alleged attempt “to disrupt, through fraud and deceit, the government function by which votes are collected and counted.”

In 2023, Smith indicted Trump on four criminal charges that focused on his alleged efforts to subvert the results of the November 2020 election. Biden won Michigan in 2020 by 154,000 votes or 3 percentage points, 51%-48% over Trump. But the Republican nominee claimed, without providing evidence to back up his accusations, that widespread fraud influenced the outcome.

Members of Trump’s campaign attempted to get the Republican leaders of the Michigan Legislature to overturn the result — although they refused — according to Smith’s new motion. And the Trump campaign also organized a false slate of Republican electoral votes to submit to Congress.

“The throughline of these efforts was deceit: the defendant’s and co-conspirators’ knowingly false claims of election fraud,” Smith’s motion said.

Smith’s new motion also said a campaign employee of Trump encouraged a colleague at the crowded convention center where Detroit’s absentee ballots were being counted in November 2020 to “make them riot.”

Among those in the crowd in Saginaw County was Jeff Kordel, a 62-year-old retired union worker from Marlette. Asked about the new information from prosecutors about the 2020 election, Kordel questioned how many times similar accusations could be released against Trump.

“I’m to the point that I don’t care about it,” said Kordel, who labeled Trump’s first term in office “the golden days.” Kordel wore a T-shirt that said, “I was going to be a Democrat for Halloween but my head wouldn’t fit up my ass.”

Going after Harris

Trump on Thursday went after Harris by labeling the Democratic vice president as “more incompetent than Biden” and criticized her response to Hurricane Helene with a reference to Republican former President George W. Bush.

“This is the worst response in the history of hurricanes,” Trump said. “A certain president, I will not name, destroyed his reputation with Katrina. ... She’s doing worse than he did.”

Shelby Shorkey, a 32-year-old from Bay City, was in the crowd for Trump’s event. Shorkey said she plans to vote for Trump this fall, citing the low interest rate, she said, was available when she bought her home in 2019.

“He doesn’t sugarcoat nothing,” Shorkey said. “He tells you how it is. He wants what’s best for us.”

However, ahead of Trump’s visit Thursday, a trio of Republicans launched a group called Michigan Republicans For Harris, including former U.S. Rep. Dave Trott of Birmingham, an attorney who represented Michigan in the U.S. House from 2015-19 before retiring.