State Rep. Jason Woolford (R-Howell) issued the following statement regarding a recent report by the Detroit News on the new tariffs issued by the Trump administration and the status of Michigan’s economy:

“Some reporting on the Trump administration’s reciprocal tariffs rightly points out that these policies come at a time when Michigan’s unemployment rate and population growth have both taken turns for the worse. This February, our unemployed population was 70,000 people greater than it was in February last year. Families have been fleeing Michigan for other states for nearly a decade because of a political environment hostile to business and economic growth.

“Those trying to blame our current economic woes on President Trump’s new tariffs are either dishonest or somehow willfully blind to what years of our government’s burdensome regulations, wasteful spending, and overbearing bureaucracy have done to our state. Democrat officials pay people to stay home and not work, and do nothing to help our veterans or make our state more friendly to small businesses, yet look to blame the current presidential administration when we can’t compete with our neighbors.

“As the chair of the House Oversight Subcommittee on State and Local Public Assistance Programs, I have made it clear from the beginning of the term that we intend to cut government waste, fraud, and abuse. These are the real issues plaguing the Michigan economy, not the federal government’s efforts to address our trade deficit.”