Wisconsin

Wisconsin is America's Dairyland and its machinery heartland — and tariffs hit both identities hard. The state's dairy industry, the nation's second-largest, has been transformed by Mexican and Chinese markets that buy Wisconsin cheese, butter, and milk powder in growing volumes. Mexico's retaliatory tariffs on US dairy products directly threaten Wisconsin's 6,400 remaining dairy farms and the massive processing infrastructure (Sargento, Grande Cheese, Land O'Lakes) that depends on export growth. Wisconsin's machinery sector — Rockwell Automation, Oshkosh Corp, Joy Global (Komatsu), Snap-on, Harley-Davidson — exports globally and faces retaliatory tariffs specifically targeting these products. The EU slapped retaliatory tariffs on Harley-Davidson motorcycles, prompting the Milwaukee icon to shift some production overseas — a devastating symbolic blow. Wisconsin grows 60% of US ginseng, and China's retaliatory tariffs devastated Marathon County growers who depended on the Chinese market for 80% of sales. The state's cranberry bogs (producing 60% of US cranberries) face retaliatory barriers. Wisconsin's paper industry in the Fox Valley imports chemicals and exports finished products in a globally integrated chain now disrupted. Foxconn's troubled Mount Pleasant facility epitomizes the complexity of tariff-era manufacturing incentives.