with razor thin margins. 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% 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. 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 U.S. Exports, particularly for Wisconsin?
>> Well, for Wisconsin, we're going to 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 going to 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 in especially. I understand,
Wisconsin's biohealth sector for its part. I understand that
France is talking about targeting U.S, 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 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
talking about retaliatory tariffs or the tariffs that the
U.S. Is putting on these countries, it's really concern
about sending the economy into a recession. And there's a fear
that even if the tariffs are alleviated, the chill 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. You know, I mean, if
you 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 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
plan around. >> As to the tariffs on Mexico
and Canada, what is the current and potential future impact on
Wisconsin? foremost, we're going to see
impacts on everyday Wisconsinites pocketbooks. We're
going to see increases in grocery costs. We're going to
see increases in 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 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. higher prices on just about
everything? >> It's hard to imagine that
this isn't 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've 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 explore ways to mitigate risks
or ways to move their supply chain around, we want to be
there with the best information to be able to supply them and
help them react in the most successful way.
>> Secretary Missy Hughes, >> Secretary Missy Hughes,