The Trump tariffs hit this week.
The across-the-board taxes on
imports into the US are
combined with reciprocal tariffs,
hiking the tax on countries with
larger trade imbalances,
holding steady with the 25%
tariffs on Canada and Mexico,
on steel and aluminum, and on
cars. For other countries,
the 10% baseline tariffs
on all goods imported into
the U.S.
will see higher reciprocal rates,
like the 20% 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 a real surprise over
what's happened.
Everyone has expressed to me we have
had incredible long-term friendships
and really a lot confusion
and misunderstanding
or confusion
about what's happening and
what the future holds.
So as to retaliatory tariffs
being considered by other countries,
what would that mean for U.S.
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 gonna 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 biohealth sector.
For its part, I understand that
France is talking about targeting
the US
tech sector.
What do you say to your counterparts
in Europe in the face of
this?
Well, first and foremost, things are
changing every day.
So before we even get
into conversations about tariffs,
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 taking 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
unsteady. You speak about recession
for Wisconsin,
for the U.S., for the
globe.
Yeah, I mean, if you
think about the impacts of the
tariffs, a company that might
be making an investment, a company,
that might 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 in a recession.
I have companies that are talking to
me from Wisconsin who are very
concerned about what the future
holds. They have relied on
open trade between Mexico
and Canada.
They've created supply chains in
that way, and now they're really
worried about what's going to
be the future, and this
unpredictability and instability is
really hard for businesses to and
around.
As to the tariffs on Mexico
and Canada, what is the
current and potential future impact
on Wisconsin?
Well, I think first and foremost,
we're going to see impacts on
everyday Wisconsinites'
pocketbooks.
We're going see increases in grocery
costs. We're gonna see increases and
gas and prices.
And that's really going to be having
an effect right away.
Longer term,
we'll see companies really
thinking about how do they re-
Jigger their supply chains
and can they do that it because
they've relied on buying from
Mexico or buying from Canada and
even sending parts back and forth
across the borders and now they're
going to have to Make decisions
about how to continue to make that
work or to move into
new or more difficult types of
business
So overall, should we expect higher
prices on just about everything?
It's hard to imagine that
this is going to have an impact
through and through and through.
Even a company I
was talking to that imports coffee
is facing incredible tariffs.
And so we can expect, you know, just
at the beginning of our day with
coffee to have higher costs.
And, you know, we might see
increased costs in health care
because we'll see medical devices
and perhaps drugs costing more.
So I think everywhere we're going to
see real challenges to
what we expect and how we
pay our bills.
What can someone like you in your
position do about any of this?
Well, first and foremost, we want to
provide really good information to
our companies.
As you pointed out, the
tariffs are complex, whether they're
reciprocal or coming into the
country. We want to make sure they
have the best information about
that. And then as they explore
ways to mitigate risks
or ways to move their supply
chain around, we wanna be there with
the best to be able to
supply them and help them act
in the most successful
way.
Secretary Missy Hughes, joining us
from France, thanks so much.
Thank you.
Thank you, yes.
So you obviously planned
this trip well ahead of the
announcement of these tariffs,
but knew presumably that
this would be kind of
weird ground to tread in
this mission.
Yeah, this has been
in the works for quite a few
months.
But certainly, as we see this
developing in January
and perhaps even before,
we had a line of sight to it and we
were thinking about it.
But it was really important that we
still come.
We've had a really incredible
reception from folks who are just
so happy to be able to have a
personal conversation and know
that they're still friends that
they can call on and talk with.
Alright, well thank you so much and
have a good rest of your mission.
Thank you. Thank you so much for
reaching out.
All right, take care.
Bye.
Thank you, holder of camera.
Amazing! You did a great job!