Whitmer talks Oval Office Trump meeting, calls Selfridge discussions 'groundbreaking'

FOX 2 - Governor Gretchen Whitmer showed up at an education event in Ann Arbor Thursday but her travel schedule 24 hours earlier in Washington DC was more top of mind for the assembled media.

President Donald Trump hosted Whitmer in the Oval Office on Wednesday with Republican House Speaker Matt Hall while he signed various executive orders and proclamations amid a press conference.

The backstory:

Whitmer and Hall both spoke to Trump about invasive carp in the Great Lakes and infrastructure money for Selfridge Air National Guard Base.

"You want some results, you have to show up," she said. "I did have the opportunity to chat with the president as you heard him say some great things about Selfridge, about protecting The Great Lakes and also, the primary purpose to talk about the ice storm and the recovery that is ongoing and the need for federal resources."

The governor was in Washington DC to make a speech regarding tariffs and said she thought the meeting with Trump would be private.

"My presence was not an endorsement of any of the actions taken or the comments that were made. I was going in for a meeting and they walked me into a press conference," she said. "I disagree with a lot of the stuff that was said and the actions that were taken, but I stayed in the room because I needed to make the case for Michigan and that's my job."

The president who once had a public spat during Covid with the governor, but put that aside, saying, "We're honored to have Gretchen Whitmer here from the great state of Michigan. She's done an excellent job. A very good person."

Whitmer has taken criticism from the national press for her Oval Office meeting, and even she marveled at the disparate reactions afterward.

"The coverage was wild - some people said I endorsed all the Trump tariffs, some said I lambasted him," she said. "I actually said tariffs are a blunt tool. You don't use them to hammer the American economy, you use it to level.

"I'm glad he changed his policy with regard to the reciprocal tariffs but nonetheless, we still have very concerning manufacturing tariffs that Michigan feels harder than anyone else."

Related: 

• Trump joined by Whitmer, Speaker Hall in Oval Office, promises help with Selfridge, Asian carp
• Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer encourages more US production during Washington DC address

Whitmer went on to call the reciprocal tariff policy terrible and said she worries over the constant fluctuation and repercussions for average Americans with the wild stock market swings.

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 09: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer looks on as U.S. President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on April 09, 2025 in Washington, DC. President Trump signed several executive orders includ

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She said that her presence in the Oval Office was due to the interest of Michigan.

"I sat there thinking about the people in northern Michigan who still don't have power. I thought about Michigan businesses that are paying a price due to the tariff fluctuation," she said. "I thought about Selfridge air base which we need to get recapitalized, and he said that yesterday. 

"I've been trying to get that done for the whole time I've been governor. That was as far as we've gotten as far as a public commitment and it's ground-breaking."