TUE AM News: Talking Trade with John Gatto, Transatlantic Strategy Group; Evers slams Trump’s AI executive order

December 16, 2025

— In the latest episode of “Talking Trade,” John Gatto of Transatlantic Strategy Group says “decades-overdue” German defense spending creates new opportunities for U.S. businesses.

Gatto is the founder and managing director of the Milwaukee-based international business and government relations firm, which helps clients navigate the regulatory environments of the United States and Europe.

He discusses how recent developments in U.S. foreign policy have led to changes in Germany, which is putting more funding into defense after President Donald Trump pressured it and other NATO members to contribute more to the military alliance.

“We are putting money behind defense which has historically never been there,” said Gatto, who grew up in Germany. “There was a defense budget, but it was very, very, very small. All of a sudden, within one fell swoop, you have a trillion euros in additional defense spending in Germany alone.”

That’s in addition to about $870 billion in proposed European Union defense spending, he noted. While Germany, France and other NATO countries are ramping up their ability to defend themselves militarily, their economies alone won’t be able to fulfill this rising demand, according to Gatto.

“The funds are there, but the capabilities are not really there,” he said. “And that’s where I identified tremendous opportunity for U.S.-based companies.”

That includes Wisconsin manufacturers such as Oshkosh Defense, smaller suppliers of technical components in the state, as well as bigger companies elsewhere in the country including Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

Gatto says the “political volatility” in Europe and elsewhere is shaping investment and business decisions around the world. He pointed to a shift from “just in time” manufacturing to a “just in case” approach in the post-COVID era, as companies are stocking more supplies and products than they did before the pandemic.

“Many people are now focusing on supply chain resilience, diversifying their supply chain,” he said, adding “the defense industry has historically been a very well-established and settled marketplace, but there’s so much more opportunity for new players now.”

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.

— Gov. Tony Evers suggests President Donald Trump’s new executive order to restrict state-level regulation of AI will undermine efforts to protect Wisconsinites, including children, from “predatory behavior and bad actors.”

Evers in a Thursday letter to Trump urged the president and congressional Republicans to abandon any efforts to preempt, punish or undermine states’ work to regulate AI.

The Dem guv has signed several laws regulating the use of artificial intelligence in Wisconsin. That includes laws requiring the disclosure of AI-generated content in political ads, expanding the definition of child pornography to include AI-generated representations of children, and prohibiting the use of deepfakes to coerce, harass or intimidate.

“Mr. President, it is breathtaking for you to threaten to punish and withhold federal funding from states like Wisconsin for taking decisive, bipartisan action to pass common-sense policies that protect Wisconsinites from being potentially being sexually exploited using AI-generated materials or being deceived by political ads made using AI,” Evers wrote. “Put simply, doing so could reopen the door for bad actors in Wisconsin to resume reprehensible behavior we have worked to criminalize while leaving fewer options for local law enforcement to be able to hold those bad actors accountable.”

Evers sent the letter the same day Trump officially signed the new executive order, which establishes a U.S. Department of Justice task force charged with challenging state laws related to AI. The order also seeks to restrict federal funding for states with “onerous” AI-related laws on the books.

The White House did not return a request for comment. Trump has argued state regulation of AI will stifle the growing industry.

“There must be only One Rulebook if we are going to continue to lead in AI,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post last week. “We are beating ALL COUNTRIES at this point in the race, but that won’t last long if we are going to have 50 States, many of them bad actors, involved in RULES and the APPROVAL PROCESS. THERE CAN BE NO DOUBT ABOUT THIS! AI WILL BE DESTROYED IN ITS INFANCY!”

See the release.

— Businesses and consumers in the state have lost more than $107 million to fraud so far this year, the Wisconsin Bankers Association reports, as AI gives rise to more sophisticated scams.

The group yesterday issued a warning about AI-enabled fraud, noting the technology can be used to replicate professional language as well as the “desperate tone of a family member in danger” to mislead people.

Bankers across Wisconsin are seeing fraud victims coming in within a day or so after realizing they’ve been tricked, hoping in vain to have the transaction reversed, according to WBA.

“These scams are purposefully urgent and frightening,” WBA President and CEO Rose Oswald Poels said in a statement. “Scammers count on panic and confusion to get people to act quickly. Once the money is gone, it is often impossible to recover.”

The group says some fraudsters impersonate banks or utility companies to ask their customers to provide personal information or make a payment, even imitating the real businesses’ caller ID. Others are claiming to represent government agencies or impersonating family members, often targeting older people.

WBA is urging caution about requests for using “unusual” payment methods such as cryptocurrency ATMs, gift cards or wire transfers.

See the release.

Top headlines from the Health Care Report…

— State Dem Party Chair Devin Remiker blasted Republicans for failing to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies.

Rates are set to skyrocket for millions of Americans when the enhanced tax credits expire. Republicans in Washington, D.C., have rejected Dem efforts to renew the credits, criticizing the ACA as a failed endeavor.

Remiker at a press conference outside the state Capitol yesterday said the subsidies are “crucial.” He knocked the GOP-majority U.S. Senate for last week’s vote to reject a three-year extension Democrats proposed.

“Just this past week, I was talking to a member of my own family who was looking at what it would cost for them to be able to afford health care, and they simply can’t do it,” Remiker said. “They now have to figure out how they’re going to pay for insulin for diabetes in order just to get by. And that is a conversation that now 300,000 people in this state and their friends, family and loved ones are going to be having around dinner tables, in family rooms and over the holidays.”

He charged Wisconsin Republicans, including U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is running for governor, with betraying Wisconsinites and working people.

Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein, D-Middleton, Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer, D-Racine, and local business owners also spoke at the presser.

Chef Evan Dannells, who owns Madison-based Cadre, said his 10 full-time employees will see a total increase of about $18,000 for their health insurance. He said he will have to figure out how to pay them enough so they can have health care, because he doesn’t want them to go without.

Dannells said the ACA was the first time a small business owner like himself could expect employees to get benefits at a reasonable rate.

“So having this become more expensive again is just going to turn people away from small business and towards large corporate jobs because they’re going to have to go where the benefits are provided for them because they’re not going to be able to pay for the benefits that they have,” Dannells said.

A state GOP spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.

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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