TUE AM News: Talking Trade with Richard Hyde, British consul general in Chicago; Wisconsin’s fiscal year 2023 Medicaid spending above average, Pew report shows

June 24, 2025

— In the latest episode of “Talking Trade,” British Consul General in Chicago Richard Hyde says the new trade deal between the United States and United Kingdom includes key provisions on agriculture that will benefit both countries.

“This is something we’ve been talking about for a number of years. Since we left the European Union this has been one of the big things that we’ve been trying to achieve,” Hyde said of the deal. “And it’s been challenging, and so it was a big breakthrough for us.”

After the framework for the deal was announced earlier this year, both U.S. and UK leaders recently signed it during the G7 conference in Canada, Hyde noted. He argued the trade deal is “all about mutual prosperity” for both countries.

“The U.S. and the UK have a trade relationship that’s balanced, that’s fair and frankly is reciprocal,” he said.

He added: “We are not a threat to U.S. jobs … we do not undercut you on steel or agriculture or anything else that people are rightly concerned about. But we are a complementary economy.”

Hyde said agriculture is “always the most complicated” and often emotional part of international trade agreement negotiations, given the pride people take in what they produce and differences in how they make it.

One element of the trade deal aims to increase U.S. ethanol exports to the UK through a new quota, he noted. Another will open up beef imports and exports between the two nations, which Hyde says will give farmers certainty that they can “sell in much bigger quantities” outside of domestic markets.

Still, he said this represents a “starting point for our agricultural conversation” between the countries.

“There’s much more we can do, and there’s much more we want to do on this, but we don’t want to hold everything up,” he said.

The discussion also touches on changes in food standards over time, trends in other commodities such as steel and aluminum, trade imbalances and other topics.

Talking Trade is hosted by E.M Wasylik Associates Managing Director Ken Wasylik and M.E. Dey & Co. President and Managing Director Sandi Siegel.

Watch the full episode here.

“Talking Trade” is now available in audio form on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts. Subscribe and find more episodes here.

— Wisconsin spent 13.7% of its own resources on Medicaid in fiscal year 2023, marking an increase from the state’s 15-year average, a new Pew report shows.

The analysis found the state’s Medicaid spending for the fiscal year was 0.6 percentage points above its average of 13.1%. Nationally, states spent 15.1% of their own resources on Medicaid in fiscal year 2023, which is 0.5 percentage points lower than the 15-year average.

“Looking ahead, the share of state budgets spent on Medicaid is likely to remain elevated through fiscal 2024, but potential shifts in federal policy could reshape the program’s fiscal footprint within states over the longer term,” authors wrote.

Compared to all other states, Wisconsin had the sixth-highest increase by percentage for this measure. In the Midwest region, Wisconsin had the second-highest increase after Minnesota, where 17.9% in spending was up 1 percentage point from the average.

The report spotlights a “sharp rise” in Medicaid spending for the fiscal year, as states collectively allocated $294.1 billion of their resources to Medicaid, an increase of 17.8% or $44.4 billion from the previous year. This was driven by higher federal Medical funding from the pandemic phasing out in 2023 and higher enrollment totals in the program.

At the same time, Pew notes growth in states’ “own-source revenue slowed dramatically,” rising just 1% from fiscal year 2022 to fiscal year 2023. That’s well below the 14% increase between fiscal years 2021 and 2022.

Wisconsin’s own contribution to Medicaid spending was $4.69 billion in fiscal year 2023, making up 36.5% of the state’s $12.8 billion total for Medicaid spending for the year, the report shows. The federal government contributed the other $8.16 billion.

At the national level, states contributed $294 billion or 32.6% of total Medicaid spending for fiscal year 2023, while the federal government contributed the other $607 billion.

See the report.

For more of the most relevant health care news, reports on groundbreaking research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics and WisBusiness.com.

Sign up here.

— U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, has joined a bipartisan letter calling for the Trump administration to reverse a decision to shut down Job Corps Centers across the country.

Baldwin and other members of the Senate Appropriations Committee sent the appeal to U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer. They argued the agency’s recent move to begin shutting down the centers “will harm students and local economies in every state” in the country.

The lawmakers are urging Chavez-DeRemer to “faithfully implement” legislation that President Donald Trump signed into law that included about $1.76 billion for the program. Job Corps has offered free education and vocational training for people aged 16 to 24 since being launched in 1964, the letter notes.

“The sudden closure of Job Corps Centers not only puts young people’s lives at risk, but local communities will pay a steep price, especially the thousands of individuals who work at the Centers and will lose their livelihoods,” lawmakers wrote.

The DOL says all operations at contractor-operated Job Corps centers will end by Monday. In a recent release, the agency said its decision aligns with the president’s budget priorities and aims to ensure “federal workforce investments deliver meaningful results” for both students and taxpayers.

The agency notes the program has faced financial issues, operating at a $140 million deficit in program year 2024 that was projected to hit $213 million in program year 2025.

According to the DOL, the average graduation rate for the program was 38.6% and the average cost per student per year was around $80,000. The average total cost per graduate was about $156,000. And following the program, participants earn about $17,000 per year on average, the agency says.

Milwaukee officials earlier this month held a press conference slamming the decision to shut down the Milwaukee Job Corps Center. Mayor Cavalier Johnson said the program “means hope” and opportunity for the young people that have taken part.

“It’s a chance to get their lives on sound footing, for a more structured life and better access to good-paying job opportunities as well,” he said.

See Baldwin’s release.

— Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson says Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration is hurting the economy in Milwaukee and the state of Wisconsin.

“The president’s administration and their rhetoric on immigration has been very hurtful to folks in our community and very damaging as well,” Johnson told “UpFront” from the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Tampa, Florida.

“When you think about the economy in the state of Wisconsin — and Milwaukee is not an outlier to this — it’s a three-legged stool. It’s agriculture. It’s tourism and it’s manufacturing. And in each of those areas, immigration plays a huge role,” he said. “Who’s going to milk the cows? Who’s going to go on to the fields? Who’s going to work to make sure the hotels are clean? Who’s going to work? In the restaurants? Who’s going to work in the manufacturing places as well?”

He added immigration “touches every single aspect of our lives daily” both in Milwaukee and statewide.

Johnson is one of nearly 200 mayors from across the country convening on issues related to economic development, the impact of tariffs and the ongoing trade war and public safety.

See more from the show.

— Federal officials have sworn in former consultant Mike McCoshen as administrator of the Great Lakes St Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation.

In a recent LinkedIn post, Michael Best Strategies partner Bill McCoshen posted a picture of the ceremony. He says his brother Mike recently came out of retirement to accept the opportunity after previously spending 45 years in the shipping industry, including working for Texas-based BNSF Railway and Hallett Dock Co., based in Minnesota.

“It’s a great honor for the Twin ports shipping community, Mike and his family, and the entire McCoshen crew,” Bill McCoshen wrote.

The corporation’s former administrator, Adam Tindall-Schlicht, thanked Mike McCoshen for his “dedication to this essential work” in a separate post after meeting with him.

“It was a meaningful conversation that reaffirmed what I’ve always believed: commitment to the Great Lakes Seaway maritime economy is, and must remain, bipartisan,” Tindall-Schlicht wrote.

Listen to an earlier podcast with Tindall-Schlicht.

Gov. Tony Evers says he won’t sign a state budget that doesn’t extend Child Care Counts payments

GE HealthCare plans addition at Waukesha campus

TOPICS

AGRIBUSINESS

– Boosting biofuels from drought-stressed switchgrass

ECONOMY

– See Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee discuss the economy and the future

EDUCATION

– UW-Madison announces budget cuts up to 7 percent for all departments

– Wisconsin student loan borrowers could now face debt collection

FOOD & BEVERAGE