President Donald Trump says his trade policies and tariff strategies are intended to bring more manufacturing activity and jobs back to the United States. But for now, many Wisconsin companies are trying to navigate the uncertain economic landscape caused by Trump’s widespread tariffs.
In April, Trump announced a minimum 10% tariff on several countries. Certain countries faced much larger tariffs including China (34%), Vietnam (46%), Thailand (36%) Cambodia (49%), Bangladesh (37%) and Pakistan (29%).
A few days after the initial announcement, a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs, excluding goods from China, was announced.
The president’s sweeping tariff announcement also led to retaliatory action from China, which said it planned to match the 34% tariffs imposed by Trump. Trump then enacted a 145% tariff on Chinese goods. In mid-May, the U.S. and China announced a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs.
The back and forth of Trump’s tariff moves this year has caused several local companies to completely re-work how they handle pricing.
Cudahy-based CR Industries is currently quoting on a spot basis and passing on any rising costs to customers. The company won’t speculate on material pricing because if they get things wrong, it will have a significant impact on the business.
“Even if there is an announcement tomorrow that the tariffs are gone, I don’t foresee market pricing changing,” said Rich Ballenger, co-owner of CR Industries.
Milwaukee-based manufacturer Stratus Industries is another company changing its pricing and quotation process.
Stratus is reworking its quoting process and giving customers less time to commit to orders. What used to be a “reasonable window” to consider quotes has quickly dwindled down to as little as 24 hours.
“That’s making it really difficult to circle back to customers and make final pricing decisions,” said Tom Daugherty, CEO of Stratus Industries. “We have less than a day sometimes to get in touch with everyone to make the call on purchasing materials at that price. And rarely does the price go down the next day.”
Oconomowoc-based Sentry Equipment has seen its business in China essentially halt due to uncertainty regarding when, and if, a final trade deal will be reached.
About a quarter of the company’s business is being affected by tariffs, according to Rich Gaffney, vice president of commercial operations at Sentry Equipment.
“Commerce for us in China is going to be nonexistent for the foreseeable future unless something major changes there,” said Gaffney.
The cost of doing business with the tariffs on both imported and exported goods is simply too high, he explained.
“Something that would have cost $100 two months ago now costs somewhere around $250,” Gaffney said. “The whole market is going to have to recorrect itself for the price expectation, and nobody has found that home yet.”
Tariffs are also hitting Wisconsin breweries hard. Ryan Bandy, chief business officer at Indeed Brewing, said he recently received a 65% increase for a purchase order related to new tap handles. The brewery is in the middle of a project that involves upgrading new packaging equipment.
“For two of our parts, wait times just doubled and prices are up 30%,” said Bandy. “We already budgeted for this project and we’re halfway through. We’re wondering if we can finish it.”
It’s difficult to make any business plans now due to the constant “chaos,” Bandy explained. While brewery owners are crafty, he said they need more than a 90-day window of clarity to make decisions.
Impact on large manufacturers
Several of Wisconsin’s largest manufacturers have already introduced price increases to recoup the money they estimate will be lost this year due to tariffs.
Milwaukee-based A.O. Smith increased prices by between 6% and 9% on most water heater products.
A.O. Smith has also congregated cross-functional tariff response teams to identify tariff and supply chain-related risks to the business.
At Harley-Davidson, company officials have said tariffs will cost the company between $30 million and $55 million throughout the remainder of 2025.
The company expects 145% tariffs on China to return following the end of the current 90-day pause.
Already, Harley-Davidson has taken a $9 million hit from tariffs during the first quarter of the year, the company says.
Harley-Davison is making some supply chain adjustments where possible and slowing down shipments of motorcycles. The manufacturer is also looking at pricing but has not made any changes yet due to “the current recessionary environment” for leisure products.
“It’s difficult to predict what policies may impact customers over the course of a year and how consumer confidence will affect discretionary purchase,” said Jochen Zeitz, CEO of Harley-
Davidson.
Town of Genesee-based Generac reported last month that tariffs could cost the company $125 million in the second half of the year.
Generac expects the impact of tariffs to be fully offset by price increases of between 7% and 8%, along with additional supply chain initiatives.
“There’s whole industries that aren’t here in the U.S.,” said Aaron Jagdfeld, CEO of Generac during the company’s latest earnings call. “We can’t buy everything here in the U.S. Maybe over time that (network) could be developed, but definitely not in 30 days.”
