TOLEDO, Ohio — Vice President JD Vance visited an industrial shipping facility in Toledo on Thursday morning to talk about how America's economy is doing amid the second Trump administration.
Vance was joined onstage by dozens of workers holding signs stating "bigger paychecks" and "lower prices."
Watch Vance's full remarks in the player below:
Before discussing the economy, Vance said he would be traveling to Minneapolis later today to meet with community leaders on ICE activity in the city.
"My simple piece of advice is look, if you want to turn down the chaos in Minneapolis, stop fighting immigration enforcement and accept that we have to have a border in this country; it's not that hard," he said.
Vance said that what is happening in Minneapolis is unique and isn't happening anywhere else in the country.
"And that's because whether it's in Texas or Tennessee, it's in red states, it's in blue cities. Even within our country, most people are cooperating with the simple principle that we ought to be able to enforce our immigration laws and get illegal criminals the hell out of the United States of America; it's really not that complicated," he said.
Vance told the audience at Midwest Terminals - Ironville Rail and Transfer that the, "craziness in a few distinct cities" was because "the far left have decided that the United States of America shouldn't have a border anymore and they are willing to fight and penalize and dox and even assault our law enforcement officers in order to fight for the basic principal that anybody ought to be able to come into the United States of America."
Vance said that's something the Trump administration rejects.
"We are going to get illegal criminals out of our country, and we are not going to let a few left-wing radicals stop us," he said, before pivoting to the reason for his stop in Toledo.
"I'm here in Toledo to talk about the great American comeback, and that is what I believe. We are one year in. We are one year into raising wages for workers instead of declining wages for workers," he said.
Vance talked about the trillions of dollars America is investing in itself rather than in other countries, and then immediately returned to immigration.
"We are one year in to getting illegal aliens out of our country so that American homes can go to American citizens, which is exactly where they ought to go," he said. "And we are one year into seeing lower inflation and bigger paychecks and more opportunity for the American worker."
Vance told the audience he believes America is on the cusp of the greatest economic year in the country's history.
According to Vance, the IRS has said that 2026 will be the biggest tax refund year America has ever seen.
"I know there are a lot of far-left Democrats like Marcy Kaptur who don't like it when the government gives you back your hard-earned money, but the Trump administration believes that you earned it, you ought to keep it, and we ought to keep our hands the hell out of your pocket in Washington D.C.," Vance said.
He said that the largest tax refund year for Americans came down to the Trump administration's work with Congress to eliminate taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security, promises that Vance said the Trump campaign ran on.
"And because of it, every single person in this room and every single person in the state of Ohio is going to benefit from," Vance said. "That's what we said we were going to do. We were going to end the green energy scam and invest in American energy workers, and we did it."
Vance said that the administration will reward companies that invest in the United States and penalize companies that invest in "communist China" and other places.
The vice president said the country is already reaping those rewards and experiencing the benefits, noting that its inflation is at its lowest level since the first Trump administration.
Vance referenced the Biden administration as "terrible times" where American workers lost an average of $3,000 over those four years due to out-of-control inflation and stagnant wages.
Vance went back to touting the first year of the second Trump administration, claiming that Americans have gained over $1,300 in real wage gains.
He also pointed back to the Biden administration and the cost of prescription drug prices, stating that during that time, Americans had the highest prescription drug prices anywhere in the world —something Vance said that the current administration has fixed.
The cost of homes and rent was brought up during Vance's time at the podium, with the vice president stating that rent prices have dropped over the last five months, but he acknowledged that there's still work to do to bring them down further.
"We are seeing those rents come down. We are seeing the cost of housing flatten out a little bit," Vance said. "One of the biggest reasons is because on the one hand, we lowered the regulatory burdens to build houses in this country, while on the other hand, we got illegal aliens out of the United States of America who were taking American homes. That is how you lower prices — focus on American workers and invest in American homebuilding — you don't give all our homes to illegal aliens.
