Mike Rogers breaks with Trump on tariffs in new ad
Michigan Senate nominee Mike Rogers called for an end to the U.S. trade war with Canada, releasing a Wednesday ad that doesn’t mention President Donald…
There’s a moment in the new Mike Rogers ad where he looks into the camera and says Canada is not our enemy. That’s not a throwaway line. It’s a direct challenge to the White House trade policy from a Republican who needs to win Michigan.
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Michigan Senate nominee Mike Rogers called for an end to the U.S. trade war with Canada, releasing a Wednesday ad that doesn’t mention President Donald Trump by name but creates new daylight with his tariff agenda.
“Here in Michigan, we know that Canada is not our enemy,” Rogers, a Republican, says in a direct-to-camera commercial. “We need to end this tariff war – now. As Michigan’s senator, I’ll bring both parties together to lower your prices. That’s job No. 1.”
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The video, posted on social media weeks before the midterm elections, is the latest step by Rogers to distance himself from Trump and a sign that Republicans are concerned about the electoral impact of his second-term policies.
Rogers is running in one of the top Senate battlegrounds of the 2026 cycle and narrowly trails his Democratic competitor, Abdul el Sayed, in the latest public polling.
Until now, Rogers has given the president space to pursue a more protectionist trade agenda. Earlier this year, he called tariffs “necessary” but not a “one-size-fits-all solution” after Trump slapped a 50% duty on roughly $20 billion in Canadian goods.
His Wednesday ad echoes other in-cycle Republicans who see those tariffs as undermining both the economy and culture of border states.
The spot features Rogers seated at a bar with a Canadian beer in hand.
“Drinking a Labatt and watching the Red Wings – man, it just doesn’t get any more Michigan than that,” he says.
Rogers ends the commercial with a jab at el Sayed, accusing him of supporting a tax increase on Michigan voters due to his opposition to last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
His campaign is a second attempt at winning a Michigan Senate seat for Republicans after he came within 19,000 votes of defeating Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) in 2024. Rogers previously represented Michigan for seven terms in the House.
This time, Rogers is running in a midterm environment defined by cost-of-living concerns and the political headwinds that the party in power ordinarily faces.
Rogers took a separate step away from the president two weeks ago when he called for the war in Iran “ to end – and end quickly.” The seven-month conflict has led to a spike in energy prices that Democrats are laying at the feet of Republicans.
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New Republican Times Editorial Board
There’s a moment in the new Mike Rogers ad where he looks into the camera and says Canada is not our enemy. That’s not a throwaway line. It’s a direct challenge to the White House trade policy from a Republican who needs to win Michigan. And honestly, it’s the right kind of political courage — the kind that comes from knowing your state’s economy better than a Washington spreadsheet does.
Rogers doesn’t name President Trump. He doesn’t have to. Voters know what he’s talking about. The tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, the back-and-forth threats, the auto industry holding its breath. Michigan’s assembly lines don’t stop at the 49th parallel. Parts cross the border multiple times before a car is finished. A tariff war with Canada is a tax on Michigan workers, no matter how you frame it.
We’re not going to pretend this is easy. Trump’s tariff instinct is about standing up for American workers, and there’s a place for that. But Canada isn’t China. Rogers is right that treating Ottawa like a strategic threat confuses a close ally with a trade rival. This is what representation looks like — a senator who breaks with his own party’s president when the folks back home are hurt. That’s not disloyalty. It’s the job.
If Rogers is wrong, the ad won’t save him. But we suspect Michigan Republicans will reward him for saying the quiet part out loud. The border is a bridge, not a wall.
Commentary written with AI assistance by the New Republican Times Editorial Board.