FRI AM News: WisBusiness: the Podcast with Sachin Shivaram, president of Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry; MMAC leader says trade imbalances ‘bad measurement’ of economic fairness

May 9, 2025

— This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with returning guest Sachin Shivaram, CEO of Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry.

The conversation centers on federal funding for the national Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which provides funding in turn to state-level programs such as the Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing & Productivity. Shivaram chairs the board for the WCMP, which aims to deliver “low-cost and cutting-edge” consulting services to small and medium manufacturers.

He discusses recent uncertainty around federal support for the program, as one cohort of state manufacturing centers were notified their funding had been slashed amid federal cost-cutting efforts.

The administration then moved to extend funding for that cohort following a “public backlash,” Shivaram said, but “the message to everyone else, the other 40 states, is that, you know, this program is on the chopping block.” WCMP’s funding isn’t up until the end of the year.

Along with providing a historical view on the federal government’s support for small to mid-sized manufacturing, Shivaram shares how the WCMP’s assistance can help with market competitiveness, process improvement, deploying new technology such as AI and more.

“We are in the business of making aluminum castings; we don’t know much about artificial intelligence,” he said. “But we do know that that technology can make our work so much more efficient, so we turn to the experts so that they can guide us in solving this tough issue. And that’s exactly why this service is so important.”

He notes the “vast majority” of the U.S. industrial economy is made up of small and medium companies, adding the Trump administration’s stated policy is to encourage domestic manufacturing.

“There are big companies all across America who are scrambling to replace their offshore sources with American manufacturers, and they are unfortunately being shocked to find that we’re not as competitive as their other sources,” he said. “Not because we’re not as good … we hadn’t had to compete in this way, and so the whole economy, and the biggest companies in America, need their small and medium-sized companies to be more competitive.”

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

See a recent related story and podcast as well as Shivaram’s previous appearance on the show.

— The head of MMAC says U.S. trade imbalances with other countries are a “bad measurement” of economic fairness, undercutting a central argument for the Trump administration’s tariff policy.

Dale Kooyenga, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, spoke yesterday during a Wisconsin Technology Council event in Milwaukee. He noted that as U.S. trade imbalances have increased, unemployment has declined and per-capita GDP has risen. And he pointed to specific trade relationships with other countries to emphasize the point.

For one, the United States imports vanilla beans from Madagascar but exports very few products there, creating a trade imbalance. But Kooyenga argues “that’s okay,” because vanilla beans aren’t typically grown domestically and Madagascar’s economy isn’t structured such that it needs many American products.

At the same time, the U.S. has a trade surplus with Australia, whose economy is dominated by mining, Kooyenga explained.

“Logistically, when you add the cost of getting what they mine to North America, it doesn’t economically make sense, so there’s no economic way to right that trade imbalance,” he said.

Yesterday’s discussion ranged from the rise of automation and AI in manufacturing to the impact of tariffs and the uncertainty they’re causing for the industry.

Andrew Deguire, dean of the College of Business Administration at Marquette University, emphasized the level of commitment needed to make a 20-year investment in manufacturing a product in a given place. That poses a challenge “if you don’t know even remotely how to forecast it,” he said.

“There’s always a long tail with these economic shocks,” he said, pointing to the long-term impacts of the financial crisis of 2008. He asked how long it has taken for residential construction to recover from that fallout, with multiple members of the audience calling out that it hasn’t.

“Exactly,” he said. “Because you saw a behavior shift. People didn’t know what to expect, or just were kind of impacted by that shock.”

Buckley Brinkman, executive director and CEO of the Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing & Productivity, raised the concern about “the second-order and the third-order damage” that’s already being done by tariffs, regardless of how U.S. trade policy may shift going forward.

“If we’re talking about our position in the world as a leadership and stable, and having the world’s currency, that’s a lot to be playing with right now,” Brinkman said yesterday. “The president may be right. He may be right. Nobody can predict sitting here today. But boy, is it a huge gamble.”

Kooyenga, a former Republican state lawmaker, also addressed the argument that tariffs are being used as a negotiating tool, not long after the news broke that the Trump administration has struck a trade deal with the United Kingdom. He referenced a “very, very close Republican friend” that worked in the White House during Trump’s first term, who told him that above all else, the president believes in tariffs.

“My fear is that the president truly believes that tariffs are good,” Kooyenga said. “My hope is that he listens to others around him. And markets don’t lie. Markets can’t be bullied. I hope he listens to markets … The bond market is telling you, and to a lesser extent the equity market is telling you that this is not going to work. So let’s get off it.”

— In a statement on the new U.S.-UK trade deal, WMC President and CEO Kurt Bauer called it “an important step forward” for American manufacturers and workers.

Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce yesterday said the deal will help strengthen economic ties between the United States and the United Kingdom, the fifth largest export market for U.S. goods.

Bauer is applauding President Donald Trump for “delivering an agreement that strengthens our economic landscape” and says WMC looks forward to more deals to come.

“Strengthening our relationship with a key partner, the deal begins the process of clearing economic uncertainty and provides clarity and stability that Wisconsin manufacturers need to plan for long-term growth,” he said.

See the full statement here.

— Dem Gov. Tony Evers announced the state has joined a new lawsuit seeking to compel the Trump administration to release more than $60 million Wisconsin was slated to receive for electric vehicle infrastructure.

President Donald Trump in January mandated federal agencies to halt disbursement of all funds appropriated under the infrastructure act signed by Joe Biden. That includes $5 billion through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program to expand electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

The guv’s office said the move is holding up work on 15 projects in Wisconsin.

“The Trump Administration and Secretary (Sean) Duffy are singlehandedly trying to block Wisconsin from receiving the investments we were promised,” Evers said. “It’s bad for the people of Wisconsin, it’s bad for our infrastructure, it’s bad for our economy, and it’s illegal.”

Among other things, the suit accuses the administration of violating the separation of powers by withholding funds Congress had approved.

It is the 15th suit Wisconsin has joined against the Trump administration so far this year. Earlier this week, it joined a suit that accused Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of “dismantling” the Department of Health and Human Services.

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