FRI AM News: Tariffs cause Wisconsin companies to consider relocating, halt growth, experts say; DWD halts monthly employment data release, H-2A visa processing amid government shutdown

October 17, 2025

— The Trump administration’s tariffs are causing Wisconsin companies to look at relocating, halting growth and pursuing unadvertised government programs, a panel of experts said.

The comments came yesterday during the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s annual summit in Green Bay, where a panel of three business leaders gathered to talk about unlocking opportunity and building resilience for the state’s economy. While the panelists offered a glimpse at hope for the future, much of what they had to say presented a bleak outlook.

Mike Klemp-North, vice president of Administration and Facilities at Hsu’s Ginseng Enterprises, said he tried to think about how to unlock new opportunities before starting the panel. But in the face of constantly shifting tariff prices and regulations as well as mounting costs, it was difficult.

Considering roughly 90% of the company’s products grown in Wisconsin are purchased by China, one of the biggest targets of the tariffs, “there’s only so much we can do,” Klemp-North said. He also hinted that the company is considering leaving its current Wausau base.

“I remember as a child … the grocery store bag said, ‘Ginseng Product of Wisconsin,’” he recalled. “If this continues, we can take that off, and we will move that industry. I want to unlock opportunity, I do, but our relations and where we’re at, we’re not going to be able to.”

Klemp-North said the current tariff on Hsu’s products altogether is about 32-37.5%.

Jonathan Dudzinski, co-founder of women’s lip balm company Bee Bella, said the threat of “triple digit tariffs” raised sent the company “into disaster planning mode.” The company decided against launching a second product, stopped hiring and decided not to add additional manufacturing equipment “because at triple digit tariffs, our margins were negative.”

The threat of triple digit tariffs on Bee Bella products is still very real, he added.

On the positive side, Dudzinski said the company sees a bright future ahead in exports, noting the Japanese market loves his lip balm and Europe has potential buyers. He still believes the trade war could be transitory and the U.S. could either achieve its goal of bringing manufacturing home or “be so economically painful that we retreat on it.”

But he knocked the tariffs for failing to achieve the goal of bringing manufacturing back to the U.S., noting the type of bamboo Bee Bella uses in its packaging can only be sourced from China. He questioned if the goal was to bring back manufacturing: “Why do it [tariffs] on everything?”

“Because myself and for many other manufacturers, we are being squeezed by the inputs that we are bringing in stateside and then further adding value to,” he said. “But if it was done just on finished goods, then of course it would benefit a business like us.”

Christie Draves, vice president of accounting and finance at Johnson Health Tech North America, said the uncertainty of the trade war and the difficulty in navigating what tariff rates apply to the various products her company manufactures makes it difficult to keep up. She said “it almost takes a PhD in knowing tariffs to understand if you’re doing it right or not.”

She praised the company’s tariff attorney as one of the best in the world, but said she’s still looking at programs the government offers to lower tariff costs, noting Johnson’s current rate is roughly 67%.

“It all depends on the product as well,” she added. “And that’s when you start to need to network and reach out and look at other alternative programs that the federal government for sure doesn’t advertise and we don’t have a lot of knowledge about here in Wisconsin.”.

Draves didn’t expand on what the programs are, but noted her company even during the last election started looking at changing where its products are manufactured because of the threat of tariffs.

“It’s not easy, you can’t bring manufacturing here by flipping a switch,” she said. “It takes years to build a factory, it takes years to source the products that are needed.”

On a positive note, Draves said the company is taking the time to streamline more processes and look at building efficiencies into the company. One example she gave was to start using bamboo imported from China in platforms the company makes because it’s cheaper than maple.

“So it’s looking for that next international trading partner, looking for that next source of the materials,” she said.

— The lack of housing, transportation and jobs combined with high student debt are some of the biggest challenges facing younger generations, a panel of young leaders at the WEDC event said.

The panel of five said, even when working two jobs, clocking 60 hours per week or obtaining an undergraduate degree, it’s not easy to afford the cost of living in Wisconsin these days. Housing costs were top of mind for most of the panelists.

Nakeisha Holder, who’s studying to be a microbiologist at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, said she’ll likely have to live at home with her parents until she’s 38; otherwise she wouldn’t be able to afford continuing her education.

“Houses are just not affordable to us right now if we’re not making at least $80,000 a year,” she said. “It’s an extremely hard task. My best friend that lives in Alabama right now, she’s trying to find a place that’ll actually approve her, and that’s even an issue because she only makes like $40-50,000 a year herself.”

Entry level jobs are also tough to get when many require several years experience, and even then salary growth isn’t keeping pace with housing costs, Nathan Halbach, who studies at UW-Green Bay, said.

“I mean, my dad tells me about how he moved to Madison with $500, and he looks at my expenses right now and is like, ‘I wouldn’t even last two weeks in Green Bay,’” he said. “So that’s the reality. Things are more expensive, and the job market, I mean salaries are going up, but I don’t think it’s matching the level of the expenses of living.”

He also said his mounting student debt is a weight he feels he has to get rid of before taking on other life goals, such as buying reliable personal transportation. Other panelists also said transportation, including access to buses, trains and planes, is an issue in Wisconsin.

Cassie Cornelius, who also studies at NWTC, said local transportation access even in Green Bay prevents many people from being able to save money and get to work.

“I’m thinking of, we want people to enter the workforce, we want people to stay in the workforce, but we’re initiating their ability to do that because they don’t have access to reliable transportation,” she said. “And if you’re saving up for a car, how are you going to do that if you’re spending $30 a day on an Uber to get to and from work?”

Henry Thies, who graduated Evansville High School and works at Argent Solutions, said buying a house could be possible for younger generations if they have a good financial plan and save, but high debt makes it very difficult.

“I think it’s more like, when people go to college and accumulate debt, and obviously it gets paid off later in life and once they get a new job,” Thies said. “But for the housing aspects, I think it’s hard for some people to get an apartment or get a house when they’re dealing with a lot of debt or just not having enough money to afford one.”

Adina Kurzban, a UW-Madison graduate who works as an intern at WEDC’s Office of Rural Prosperity, agreed that the job market is tight and the housing market is tough right now. But she said now is the time to think of new ways to market one’s skills from their degree.

“I think there’s a lot of new opportunities that are going to start coming out,” she said. “Just because I think there’s so much new technology being developed and there’s all these new, different ways of thinking, that I think leaders and jobs are starting to adapt.”

— The Department of Workforce Development won’t be able to release monthly employment data or issue H-2A visas until the federal government shutdown is over, Secretary Amy Pechacek said.

Pechacek made the announcement during the time when DWD would normally provide the monthly update on unemployment data, using federal Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers, adding roughly 75% of DWD’s $500 million budget is covered by federal funds. The department is currently operating on some carryover federal funds and its limited state budget, she said.

But in the meantime, DWD has had to cease providing monthly employment data and won’t be able to process visas for H-2A temporary agricultural workers. The program halts are largely due to the U.S. Department of Labor’s pause during the shutdown.

If the shutdown continues through December and the beginning of 2026, when the highest demand for H-2A visas occurs, many farmers won’t be able to get the seasonal workers they rely on, she said.

That timeline would make this shutdown the longest in U.S. history, longer than the 35-day shutdown during President Donald Trump’s first term.

Pechacek also took the time to rip President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans.

“So of course, we remain focused on serving Wisconsin’s workers, job seekers and employers to the best of our ability,” she said of DWD. “But we really need our federal government to return to work so they can restore some predictability and reliability to our economy and continue to be the partner that we need to ensure the economic health and prosperity of Wisconsin workers.”

— This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with returning guest Dr. Christina Henderson, CEO and founder of Reliable Residence.

Since previously appearing on the show earlier this year, Henderson has officially launched the Reliable Residence platform, which helps traveling medical professionals and students find temporary housing.

She shares an update on the startup business’s progress so far, as she grows the team and improves technical development.

“We’re still trying to expand our reach, you know, particularly health care professionals hearing about us, seeing how we operate,” she said. “And trying to do kind of an all-in-one, streamlined method. So right now our travelers get screened off of our platform, but we would like to move towards it, you’re screened from the get-go and every property is instant-book.”

She says that would speed up the process for users looking for last-minute stays. This approach could pull information from their contract with the employer to avoid repeat background checks, among other changes.

“It would be a much more efficient process for them, much less of a headache,” she said. “And so it would give them all of those options on our platform, really at the touch of their fingertips.”

Another potential change to the model could include eliminating deposits by taking on an insurance policy as a company, so its clients wouldn’t need to exchange a deposit every few months.

“This would be a huge win for them, because it saves them again, time, money and kind of that mental capacity of keeping track of what deposit is where as they’re rotating throughout the country,” she said.

Henderson also shares her vision for the future of the company, building on the momentum established in the Madison area.

“We do plan to move to areas like Marshfield, Gundersen, Eau Claire, and then eventually outside of the walls of Wisconsin,” she said. “So really our intent is how can we fix the housing crisis for all medical students and travel nurses, of course starting locally here in Madison.”

Listen to the podcast and see the full list of WisBusiness.com podcasts.

— The Wisconsin Tech Council announced more than 60 startups will pitch to potential investors at this year’s Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium.

The first day of the two day event, held Nov. 5-6, will feature 20 companies in an open mic quick pitch segment where companies will get two minutes to make their pitches. There will also be 22 companies giving five minute pitches during the Tech Council Investor Networks segment that day.

The second day features 19 companies during the Elevator Pitch Olympics, in which they’ll only have 90 seconds to make their pitches.

See more details in the release here.

— Alliant Energy announced the successful integration of a new 100 megawatt battery installed near one of the company’s solar projects in Grant County.

The Battery Energy Storage System is located in the town of Potosi, near Alliant’s 200 megawatt solar project and is designed to capture power from the solar project and other sources to release it as demanded. On a single charge, the new battery system could power up to 100,000 homes for four hours, Alliant noted.

Alliant says the new project is part of its comprehensive energy blueprint, a roadmap for advancing a balanced energy mix. The plan is meant to improve reliability, resiliency and efficiency while also keeping customer rates as low as possible.

See the release here.

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AGRIBUSINESS

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EDUCATION

– Waukesha County weighs two redevelopment proposals for UWM campus

– Alverno College receives $1.1 million donation from legacy family

– Green Bay area voucher schools to receive nearly $20M in public funding

MANUFACTURING