- The former US transportation secretary toured the Detroit Auto Show on Tuesday
- Despite changes in policy, he still expects electric vehicles and automated vehicles to take off
- Buttigieg also said he doesn’t know if he’ll run for president in 2028
DETROIT — Prominent Michigander, Biden-era transportation secretary and potential presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg offered little insight into his plans for 2028 during an interview at the Detroit Auto Show.
“I don’t know,” he answered when asked if he planned to run again for president.
The question followed Buttigieg’s on-stage conversation with Kevin Guskiewicz, president of Michigan State University, during the media preview days of the international event that highlights Detroit’s signature product and innovation taking place across the auto industry.
Buttigieg’s visit and tour of the show floor came a day after President Donald Trump came to Detroit to tout an auto industry that he said is rebounding thanks to his tariff policy and other rulemaking. Yet economists say questions persist about the long-term effects of the changes, which sent the auto industry whipsawing between Biden-era electrification subsidies and Trump’s moves.
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Industry proponents say Michigan faces a “critical time” as it seeks to keep a grip on its $348 billion auto industry.
Buttigieg, who moved to Traverse City after his unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2020, offered other perspectives on both transportation and politics.
Electric vehicle enthusiasm
US automakers have scaled back EV production in response to the end of subsidies and slower-than-expected public adoption. The changes have cost billions of dollars in write-downs this year, and Michigan’s heavily subsidized EV footprint is largely undergoing retrofitting before it even launched.
Still, Buttigieg said, “I remain fired up about what’s going on with EVs.”
He pointed to international EV development and sales, which lingers as a threat to American auto dominance as propulsion preferences face potential global shifts.
“When you have a technology that is ultimately more advanced, policymakers cannot just put the toothpaste back into the tube,” he said. “There is no question about whether this technology will be the future of the sector.
“There is a big question about whether America will lead that.”
The US government’s role in EVs
The US robustly supports fossil fuels, Buttigieg said, and should also work with industry to identify gaps in other fuels.
When it comes to EVs, he said, the government may step back from batteries, which attracted billions in subsidies under President Joe Biden. Yet charging networks, which affect EV adoption, could be worthy of subsidies because they’re not profitable.
Buttigieg said government should consider making “its investment with at least as much commitment as the (manufacturers) have to make when they’re making huge (transportation) decisions.”
Automated vehicles
Driverless vehicles are “the other great technological development that is not being talked about as much,” Buttigieg said.
They’ve advanced far enough that they are safer, he added, and the design is ready to advance beyond today’s retrofit of a typical vehicle, which includes space for a driver.
The technology will make shared transit more likely, and possibly reduce car ownership. People also are likely to rethink how physical spaces are used for vehicles, such as parking lots, Buttigieg said.
The result, he said, will be “tectonic.” That, in turn, will raise questions for policymakers and whether they keep up with technology, industry and research.
Federal tariffs
Since taking office, Trump has levied tariffs on imported cars and vehicle parts, along with steel and aluminum. He’s also levied new import taxes on products from countries around the world.
University of Michigan economists initially predicted Michigan could lose out on 13,000 jobs to the higher tariffs. In late 2025, an updated report found the tariffs’ impact would ultimately result in a “small positive” for domestic auto production.
Buttigieg said the Biden administration used tariffs more sparingly, not to concentrate power in the White House.
Tariffs need to lead to a gain in manufacturing jobs, he added. That has yet to happen, though most have only been in effect for months.
The US Supreme Court is expected to weigh in soon on whether Trump had the authority to unilaterally levy tariffs.
What to expect from Democrats in 2028
“There will be a fork in the road,” Buttigieg said of his fellow Democrats as they head toward the next presidential election without clear leadership.
“The party needs to decide what it’s about,” he said, describing two outcomes.
One is reversing everything the Trump administration did, which he described as “a recipe for more volatility.”
The other is to forge a new path.
“My party needs to have the imagination to take the departure of this president not as the be-all, end-all goal of our existence, but as the beginning of the question of what has to come next,” he said, noting that some Republicans seem to be leading on that front.
“Cultivating that imagination is one of the things I’m working on every day.”
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