Here & Now

The trade war with Canada is a gut punch to Wisconsin.

Given that our neighbor to the North is the state's largest international trading partner.

Wisconsin exports about $7.5 billion worth of goods to Canada and imports about $5.7 billion worth.

We export things like machinery, agricultural products, including dairy and forest products like paper.

Our imports include wood, pulp, oil, natural gas and aluminum.

Trade talks between the countries broke down when the U.S.

imposed an additional 50% in tariffs on a range of Canadian goods, and that country, in turn, said it would impose matching tariffs starting just after Labor Day.

For how this stacks up and what it means, we turn to CEO of the Wisconsin Economic John Miller, and thanks very much for being here.

Frederica.

Thanks so much for having me.

How surprising was it for you to see Canada play hardball and impose these matching tariffs?

Well, obviously, on a state level, you know, we we don't get to decide tariff policy, nor do we get to influence our our partners across the country.

But it is concerning because businesses are the businesses that I meet on a weekly basis are reporting to me that they are very, very concerned about the the unpredictability of the changing landscape of tariff policy.

And the way they say it is just like it would be unfair and chaotic to change the rules in the middle of a sporting event.

Businesses depend on a level playing field and, and also the certainty that the rules that they face today will be the same rules that they face tomorrow.

So this constant roller coaster of tariff policy makes it almost impossible for businesses to plan and effectively run their businesses.

They need to focus on staffing levels and certify and place orders with suppliers.

They also need to spend an extraordinary amount of time locating and training qualified distributors around the world.

So any surprise in tariff policy from a trusted supplier or a critical foreign distributor in a country hit with a tariff can bring production to an absolute standstill.

So replacing a supplier can take months, and losing a foreign market can be devastating.

Our businesses just need clarity on what the rules of the road will be.

What sector in Wisconsin will be hit the hardest in this?

Our top exports, as you mentioned, are industrial machinery.

And in that category, our exports were down about 12% in 2025.

So we we export a lot of electrical machinery, various vehicle parts, sand, salt.

We also are the large.

Canada is the largest recipient of agricultural goods from Wisconsin.

So overall, the state of Wisconsin exported about $4 billion of ag products in 2025, and 1.4 billion of those went to Canada.

So agricultural products are a huge factor for our our local producers.

Specific to that, even though Canada has a really tightly regulated dairy industry.

How important are Wisconsin dairy exports to Canada?

Wisconsin imports, excuse me, exports millions and millions of dollars of dairy products to to Canada.

And AG products accounted for about 20% of Wisconsin's exports to Canada in 2025.

So it is a big it is a big part of our export market.

And it's it's not just dairy products.

We do other agricultural products like pro prepared foods, beverages, wood products.

And of course, you know, you wouldn't be surprised that we, we also export a little summer sausage to them too.

But, but as far as dairy, whey cheese and milk are the largest exports to Canada.

What does this trade Moore trade war mean for consumers really drilling down to that level?

Well, as I think we've seen in a lot of at the grocery store in the last 18 months or so, we have heard lots of stories about products getting more expensive.

And so, you know, Canada is bringing as our other countries, bringing products into the U.S.

that are going to be tariff, which means that they're going to have an impact on what consumers pay at the grocery store.

But I think the bigger factor here is that Wisconsin is a producer.

We produce not only machinery through our factories, but we produce products, dairy products and other things that go outside of the country.

So when when those products are limited in their distribution, our workers have will have to potentially suffer not having a job if they can't, if they can't have a reasonable place to sell their their products.

So it goes both ways.

It's the price we pay for products, but it's also the ability for our workers to earn money producing those products.

As to this Canada U.S.

trade war that we are in the midst of right now, do you suspect it will resolve soon?

I can certainly hope so, because we're feeling the effects right here at the WEDC, for example, we host trade missions.

It's part of the mission of the WEDC.

And we typically host a trade mission with with Canada and with Mexico every year, because there are largest trading partners.

And we had last year two separate trade missions scheduled with Canada.

And we have Wisconsin companies that we bring along to help them sell their goods in Canada.

But we learn from our Canadian counterparts, counterparts across the border that they were reluctant to engage and meet with our producers because they were concerned about the changing nature of tariffs.

So we actually had to cancel that trade mission.

And so we tried again in November.

Again, we got the same the same response.

But we at the WEDC will remain undeterred.

We decide that we take a different, very local approach.

So we meet with state by state relationships in other countries.

So we really need to do our best to keep those relationships positive.

All right.

We leave it there.

John Miller, thanks so much.

Thanks for having me.

I appreciate it.

Drum roll please.

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