27-01-2025
Wisconsin business leaders support tariffs on China, new WMC survey says
Wisconsin business leaders support tariffs on China, new WMC survey says Wisconsin business leaders want tariffs on China but not Mexico and Canada.
In response to unfair trade practices, 86% of Wisconsin business leaders support President Donald Trump's plan to impose tariffs on goods imported from China, according to a new poll by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce.
'Wisconsin is a manufacturing and agricultural state. We make, grow and process things and we want to sell them around the world. But business leaders are saying that we need our trading partners to play by the rules,' Kurt Bauer, WMC president and CEO said in a statement.
Tariff supporters say the import fees, when prudently applied, can shield American industries from unfair foreign competition.
However they can make it more expensive for manufacturers to produce goods using raw materials and components from outside the United States. Also, when other countries retaliate with their own trade sanctions, it hurts sales of American products in those markets.
The WMC poll showed that 56% of business leaders oppose tariffs on Mexico and Canada, two of Wisconsin's largest trading partners.
Still, 73% support Trump's plan to use tariffs as a negotiating tactic to slow illegal immigration into the United States.
The semiannual employer survey also showed that 89% of business leaders favor immigration reform which starts with securing the U.S. southern border.
Ninety-six percent support increasing the 85,000-person cap on H-1B visas which target foreign workers with specialized skills.
'WMC has been advocating for reforming the guest worker program for some time. Demographic trends show that Wisconsin needs workers now and well beyond mid-century. Foreign workers must be part of the solution or our state will lose jobs and the economic activity that goes with them,' Bauer said.
On taxes, 97% of respondents support making the provisions in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) permanent.
A new study commissioned by the National Association of Manufacturers says that failing to renew the expiring tax provisions in TCJA will cost Wisconsin 110,000 jobs, $10 million in employee wages, and $19.5 billion in gross domestic product output from the manufacturing sector alone.
Manufacturing is Wisconsin's top economic sector, representing nearly $72 billion in GDP annually. Ninety percent of the survey respondents support lowering the U.S. corporate tax rate for manufacturers to 15%.
