The Trump tariffs hit this week.
The across-the-board taxes on imports into
the U.S.
are combined with reciprocal tariffs,
hiking the tax on countries with larger
trade imbalances, holding steady with the 25 percent
tariffs on Canada and Mexico, on steel and
aluminum, and on cars.
For other countries, the 10 percent baseline tariffs on all
goods imported into the U.S.
will see higher reciprocal rates like the 20 percent tariffs
on imports from the European Union.
Governor Tony Evers and CEO of the Wisconsin
Economic Development Corporation, Missy Hughes,
are just now on a trade mission to France and Germany.
Is this good timing or bad?
We turn to Secretary Missy Hughes, who's in France.
And thanks very much for joining us from there.
Yeah, good afternoon from France.
So, Secretary Hughes, what has been the reaction where
you are to these U.S.
tariffs? Well, we've really
seen generally a lot of disappointment from
the French officials and the German officials
and the businesses that we've been meeting with.
It's real surprise over what's happened.
You know, everyone has expressed to me we have had incredible
long-term friendships and really a lot of confusion and
misunderstanding or, you know, confusion about what's happening
and what the future holds.
So, as to retaliatory tariffs being considered
by other countries, what will that mean for
or US exports, particularly for Wisconsin.
- Well, for Wisconsin, we're gonna see challenges around,
especially our industrial machinery,
our large pieces of machines and equipment
that we are building and exporting to
countries like Germany for use for food processing
and the medical industry.
So we're really gonna face real challenges for our businesses
And we have businesses every day that, like, businesses we've
brought here to Germany that are exploring exporting, and
this is really going to be a challenge for them as they seek
new markets.
So, your trade mission is to promote exports, of course,
and international investments, and especially I understand
Wisconsin's bio-health sector.
For its part, I understand that France is talking about
targeting the U.S.
tech sector.
What do you say to your counterparts in Europe
in the face of this?
Well, first and foremost, you know, things are
changing every day.
So before we even get into conversations about
terrorists, we're talking about our long-term
partnerships. We're talking about how
Wisconsin is here ready to continue these relationships.
But when we're talking about retaliatory tariffs or the
tariffs that the U.S.
is putting on these countries, it's really
concerned about sending the economy into a recession.
And there's a fear that even if the tariffs are alleviated,
the chilling effect that this is going to have on the economy
and the potential recession is really causing concerns for
future investment.
So we are seeing the stock market sinking.
Certainly consumer confidence is on steady.
You speak about recession for Wisconsin, for
the U.S.
for the globe.
Yeah, you know, I mean, if you think about the impacts
of the tariffs, a company that might be making an investment,
a company that might be hiring people is going to stop
and say, well, let's wait and see what happens.
And that has a domino effect, then really creating a slowdown
and really creating a recession.
I have companies that are talking to me
from Wisconsin who are very concerned
about what the future holds.