President Donald Trump plans to speak to the Detroit Economic Club at the MotorCity Casino Sound Board Theater in Detroit next week.
The president is scheduled to speak at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 13, following the DEC’s previously scheduled Michigan Economic Outlook meeting program, according to a news release from the DEC.
The Detroit Economic Club is a nonpartisan group and has hosted senior government officials and political leaders, including former Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, according to a news release from the DEC.
It will be the third time Trump has appeared at the DEC. He previously delivered campaign addresses in August 2016 and October 2024 when the DEC invited both major party presidential candidates to speak.
The annual Michigan Economic Outlook meeting plans to “look ahead at the forces that will shape Michigan’s 2026 economy,” according to the DEC website. A panel will examine trade policy impact, business and talent attraction to the future of manufacturing and more.
Trump will speak after the meeting, which is planned to start at 11 a.m. with the last agenda item as a lunch starting at 1 p.m. Tickets to see Trump speak are only available to DEC members and their guests. Tickets for the Michigan Economic Outlook meeting before Trump speaks are available for purchase to nonmembers.
A spokesperson for the DEC said the Trump speech is being treated as a separate event that happens to be on the same day. The specific content Trump plans to speak on is unknown at this time, the spokesperson said.
The speech is taking place the same week the Detroit Auto Show is opening. Former presidents have spoken at the show. It’s unclear whether this speech will be related.
Trump’s visit to Detroit comes days after a Minneapolis woman was shot by an ICE agent and the Trump administration and Minnesota officials disagree on what happened and the need for ICE in the city. Protests against Trump have been held in metro Detroit several times over the past year since he became president, with the latest ones related to the ICE shooting and U.S. intervention in Venezuela taking place this weekend.
In response to Trump’s planned visit to Detroit, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel released a statement to the news media saying, “Trump has insulted their city before, and they’ll remember this November how Trump and Michigan Republicans caused costs to skyrocket.
“Michiganders are feeling the effects of Trump’s economy every day — and no amount of lies or lip service by the President can make up for the fact that they have less money in their pocketbooks because of the Republicans’ price-hiking agenda,” according to Hertel’s statement.This is not the first time the president has been in Michigan since his term started in January 2025. He spoke at a Macomb Community College rally on the 100th day of his term in April 2025.
Contact Natalie Davies at ndavies@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: President Donald Trump to speak to Detroit Economic Club
Reporting by Natalie Davies, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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