Governor Rick Snyder says Michigan can be the leading center of manufacturing in North America – if the state makes the right moves.
The governor delivered an address to 1,500 people attending a business conference on Mackinac Island.
Governor Snyder is a retired CEO and investor who ran on his business credentials. He was speaking to a Detroit Regional Chamber conference. He says the global economy is moving in the direction of creating manufacturing centers on each continent.
"Now in Europe, the leader is probably Germany," Snyder said. "Here, it's a wide-open jump ball. We've got all the tools to be that leader."
The governor says his goal of making Michigan an export economy of manufactured and agricultural goods requires a second international bridge crossing in Detroit. He accused the owners of the Ambassador Bridge – a span that would compete with a second border crossing – of spreading lies on the cost of the project to taxpayers.