Trump’s 1980s newspaper ads are being vindicated, administration official says during Lansing tour

Tariffs and a Middle East oil conflict in 1987, with Trump weighing in, show us today how to deal with our economy, Small Business Administrator says during Rep. Barrett visit

U.S. Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler wants you to remember the ads that President Donald Trump put in newspapers in the 1980s.

No, not the 1989 ads in which Trump called for the return of the death penalty in response to accusations against the since-exonerated Central Park Five.

Loeffler was instead referring to a newspaper ad from 1987, in which Trump criticized Japan, called the Persian Gulf an area of “marginal significance to the United States” and pushed for tariffs from allies in the context of an ongoing Iran-Iraq conflict involving oil shipping in the Middle East, which prompted American military convoys at the time to escort tankers from Kuwait and included U.S. military strikes against Iranian oil platforms.

Congressman Tom Barrett and Loeffler toured, on Thursday, the Lansing factory of Campbell Press Repair, which fixes huge equipment for other manufacturers, including military and precision health care suppliers.

Most of their visit was clouded by the loud noise of machinery as Campbell officials and the government officials talked together before they took a handful of questions from around a dozen news reporters.

CEO Pete Campbell said the 53-year-old family business has benefited from the Trump administration’s tax credits for small businesses including his own business and his clients.

“With that tax advantage they can buy and be more competitive and bring the costs down on their end,” Campbell said.

Barrett touted the factory’s work in military applications and the importance of national security but did not mention the ongoing war in Iran. 

He declined to answer a question about whether the administration has done enough to inform the public about the war actions in Iran. Barrett’s staff said he did not have time to respond and said he has issued statements on Feb. 28 and March 5 about his stance on the Iran war.

“President Trump has earned the opportunity to resolve this conflict quickly and with minimal casualties,” Barrett said in the most recent statement.

When they spoke to reporters at the Lansing factory, Loeffler and Barrett praised the Trump administration’s economic responses during the past year, with the administrator saying “there’s a lot to do to dig out of, four years of Bidenonomics, and we’re making great progress.”

Barrett said most people will notice they are getting more tax money this year, an average of about 10% more, with the aim of most of the increased returns going toward middle- and working-class people.

He said the Trump administration is addressing the economy by “doing internal border enforcement to remove people in the country illegally and competing against housing and other opportunities for native-born Americans to make sure that we’re not benefiting illegal immigrants over our own citizens and our own people who are here legally.

Loeffler pointed to the 1980 Trump newspaper ad, which used the word “backbone” and said it showed his decades-long record of support for policies including tariff reform.

“In the 1980s, before President Trump was president, he ran ads talking about  the strength of American  can be restored with a backbone,” Loeffler said. “Well, this president has brought courage and a backbone to our industrial policy, saying that we have to build it here because we do it best, we’re energy dominant, and we have to protect our national security by making things here in America again. And finally, he’s doing that, but in those 40 years, we lost five million jobs. We lost 70,000 factories that hollowed out our communities across this country.”

Loeffler was asked how small businesses can monitor and accommodate tariffs that have frequently changed with little notice in the last year.

She said she has met with businesses around the country whose leaders say they are adding shifts.

Barrett pointed to General Motors and said he has met with CEO Mary Barra, who is supportive of the Trump administration’s tariffs.

“You can’t sell a GM car in Tokyo,” Barrett said, “but one of the largest market-share vehicle manufacturers in the U.S. is Toyota. How’s that fair? How’s that fair to American families working hard every day so we don’t have these unfair trade imbalances that disadvantage American workers and manufacturers?”