FRI AM News: WisBusiness: the Podcast with Michael Ahrens, German consul general in Chicago; SHINE raises $240M, exceeding $1B in total funding

February 27, 2026

— This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Michael Ahrens, German consul general in Chicago.

The conversation explores economic ties between German and Midwest states including Wisconsin, as well as opportunities for boosting international trade and cooperation.

“If you ask somebody in Germany where are most subsidiaries of German-based companies, they probably would say California or New York, but it’s not true,” he said. “Actually, Chicago, southern Wisconsin, northern Indiana has the highest number of subsidiaries of German-owned companies in the U.S., followed by the Detroit area.”

Many of those subsidiaries are “hidden champions,” he said, pointing to small to medium-sized companies as well as family firms with a niche product.

“Even if you visit the production you sometimes wonder, okay, how does this work? But they are world leaders in their space,” he said. “But then you have also companies like Haribo, which has a production site down in Pleasant Prairie, who everybody knows.”

He called the Midwest region the “powerhouse of transatlantic trade relations” between Germany and the United States, adding there’s “a lot of potential and a lot of interest” in further investment between the countries.

Ahrens said the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest, which has an office in Milwaukee, serves businesses seeking to expand into the region with various services. In recent years, they’re seeing “huge interest” in the area, he said.

Meanwhile, Ahrens weighs in on the latest tariff developments, noting a related “sense of insecurity” has been holding back some investment decisions.

“I feel the administration made it pretty clear that even if the Supreme Court is going this route, there might be other ways to still keep up tariffs, maybe on a different legal basis,” he said.

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

— Nuclear fusion company SHINE Technologies has now raised more than $1 billion in total after recently announcing $240 million in new equity funding.

The Janesville business yesterday said the new financing kicks off its next stage of development, focused on developing methods for recycling used nuclear fuel as part of its road toward commercial fusion energy.

Its existing applications for fusion technology include aerospace and defense component testing and radioisotopes for cancer therapies and imaging.

“Fusion energy is one of the most important technologies humanity will ever develop — it will forever change how we power our species, and is already having major impact across advanced manufacturing, healthcare and recycling,” SHINE CEO Greg Piefer said in a statement.

The funding round announced yesterday was led by NantWorks, a California-based company with subsidiaries across health and life sciences, energy and renewables, and communication sectors.

Along with the new financing, SHINE yesterday announced NantWorks founder Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong has been appointed to its board of directors, noting he contributed $150 million in investment. The two companies have also joined a strategic partnership providing “priority access” to SHINE’s radiopharmaceutical supply.

In a statement on joining SHINE’s board, Soon-Shiong said the company’s leadership in fusion technology and production of the isotope Lu-177 “aligns with my lifelong mission to make cancer treatment more precise, targeted, and ultimately curative.”

See the release.

Listen to an earlier WisBusiness podcast with Piefer.

— Wisconsin moved up one spot in the latest national rankings for the highest state-local tax burden.

That’s even as the state-local tax burden in fiscal year 2023 accounted for a smaller share of personal income than the year before, according to a new report.

The Wisconsin Policy Forum’s review of census data put Wisconsin at No. 34 with 9.77% of personal income going to state and local taxes in fiscal year 2023. By comparison, the state and local tax burden accounted for 9.83% of income in 2022, when the state ranked 35th, its lowest ranking on record.

The report noted Wisconsin’s taxes as a share of income were about 1 percentage point below the national average of 10.7% in 2022-23. The year before, Wisconsin’s burden was 1.2 percentage points below the U.S. average, the largest gap the Wisconsin Policy Forum has recorded.

Wisconsin’s taxes as a share of income were roughly one percentage point below the national average of 10.7%. In the previous year, Wisconsin’s taxes as a share of income were 1.2 percentage points below the U.S. average, the largest gap the Forum has recorded.

Meanwhile, personal income in Wisconsin grew by 2.3% in 2022-23, lagging the 3.1% increase nationally.

Wisconsin’s ranking is down significantly from 2000, when it was No. 3 for the highest tax burden behind New York and Maine at 12.5%.

While the tax burden has dropped, the state’s ranking for spending as a share of income has fallen as well. It was down to the 25th highest in 2022-23.

See the report.

— The head of the MMAC says the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent move to invalidate much of the Trump administration’s tariff policy “adds more complexity to an already uncertain” trade landscape.

The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce yesterday issued a statement from Dale Kooyenga, the business group’s president and CEO, on the impact of the court’s ruling. He said the decision does provide “some clarity” on the constitutional separation of powers, but is also leading to short-term-disruption and confusion for companies.

“In the days following the ruling, I’ve communicated with over 50 local business leaders to gain perspective,” Kooyenga said. “The message was consistent: clarity is still lacking. That feedback aligns with what MMAC has heard from our broader membership since these tariffs were first implemented last year.”

In a statement last week soon after the ruling, Kooyenga said the MMAC welcomes the court’s decision, noting it reaffirms the authority of Congress over tariff policy and limits the use of emergency powers for “sweeping, across-the-board” tariffs. He said the ruling reinforces the importance of predictability in economic policy.

In yesterday’s expanded message, Kooyenga said the group’s position is “grounded in collective input” and has stayed consistent. He reiterated that narrowly tailored tariffs can be appropriate, especially when aimed at unfair trade practices or national security issues. But he argued such efforts should be precise and strategic, not a one-size-fits-all approach.

“Tariffs are a tax,” he said. “Like any tax, they must be measured, targeted and borne of clear legal authority.”

See the full message.

See an earlier story on the ruling.

— U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said he blames “awful and ambiguous laws” for last week’s Supreme Court decision striking down Trump’s global tariffs.

“I’ve read both the opinion and the dissents, and justices on both sides make very good points, so I primarily blame Congress for writing very ambiguous and really sloppy bills,” Johnson said on WisPolitics’ “Capitol Chats.”

The court in a 6-3 ruling said Trump’s argument that a 1977 law implicitly authorized the tariffs overstated the scope of the president’s authority.

“Had Congress intended to convey the distinct and extraordinary power to impose tariffs, it would have done so expressly,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion.

Three conservative justices, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas, dissented.

The ruling did not address whether the government would have to issue refunds to companies that have paid the tariffs.

Johnson said he wished the court had ruled to keep current tariff revenue in Treasury coffers and then apply the decision going forward.

Trump has indicated he will seek other legal avenues to reenact the tariffs.

— The Water Council’s spring 2026 Tech Challenge has an AI focus, the Milwaukee organization announced.

The latest competition is seeking innovations from teams around the world that incorporate AI, such as methods for improving water sensing, treatment, movement, recovery and management. Applicants can include startups, established businesses, researchers, university teams and others.

Technologies for data center cooling, digital water platforms and foam fractionation — a method for removing certain materials from liquid — are “out of scope” for this competition, the announcement notes.

Katie Kollhoff Mouat, director of innovation programs for the Water Council, says the challenge wants to see applications that move the industry “from reactive to autonomous” with groundbreaking technology.

“If your tech redefines how water is sensed, treated, distributed or recovered, we want to see it,” she said.

Since launching in 2019, the contest has had 15 rounds of applications that resulted in $260,000 in funding going to 26 teams across a dozen countries.

See the release and listen to an earlier WisBusiness podcast with Kollhoff Mouat.

Top headlines from the Health Care Report…

— Children’s Wisconsin brought in $308 million through a five-year fundraising campaign, exceeding its target goal by $8 million.

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.

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