TUE AM News: Talking Trade with Brett Ewer, Michael Best Strategies; Evers says Trump order to keep coal plants open is costing ratepayers $117M

July 21, 2026

— The latest episode of “Talking Trade” features a discussion on upcoming tariff developments with Brett Ewer, a principal with Michael Best Strategies.

The Trump administration’s temporary Section 122 tariffs are set to expire Friday.

It’s widely expected the office of the U.S. Trade Representative will issue a determination before then about forced labor occurring in dozens of countries, forming the basis for Section 301 tariffs being enacted in their place.

That’s according to Ewer, who said “everyone is waiting I think right now with bated breath” for the existing tariff framework to expire. He said observers expect the USTR determination to identify forced labor happening in 60 countries that make up 99% of all U.S. imports, and finalize tariff rates between 10% and 12.5%.

“That is baked into what everyone is expecting before the 122 tariffs expire, so everyone’s eyes are on those,” he said.

Ewer says the earlier International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs enacted by the administration and later struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court were seen as “arbitrary.” By contrast, the Section 301 tariffs are more expansive and seem to be on firmer legal footing, as they hinge on related investigations of the countries being targted.

When asked about related lobbying in Washington, D.C., where he’s based, Ewer described a “feeding frenzy” as interest groups seek to make their case.

“We’re in the piranha pool right now,” he said. “Everyone is trying to get a bite.”

He noted manufacturers and others with distributed supply chains have a major stake in this process, while the agriculture industry is seeking to maintain stability in commodity markets and ensure what they’re selling remains both affordable and profitable.

“Farms need to be able to exist as a going concern, so they’re going to be focused on things like dairy, avocados … beef, cattle ranchers are a huge presence in D.C.,” Ewer said.

The discussion also explores the future of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and expectations for future trade deals forged between the participating nations.

Talking Trade is hosted by E.M Wasylik Associates Managing Director Ken Wasylik and M.E. Dey & Co. President and Managing Director Sandi Siegel and sponsored by the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, Carroll University and Michael Best Strategies.

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.

— A Trump administration push to keep aging Midwestern coal-fired power plants open is set to cost Wisconsin ratepayers some $117 million, Gov. Tony Evers wrote in a letter.

Evers wrote that the administration’s directive to continue operating the J.H. Campbell Power Plant in Michigan and the Schahfer and F.B. Culley power plants in Indiana are “needlessly increasing energy bills.”

Since the coal plants are part of the same regional grid as Wisconsin, Wisconsin ratepayers are sharing those costs, Evers previously noted in an April letter.

“Not only are you making energy bills go up for Wisconsinites with no demonstrated need or benefit, but this practice flies in the face of state, local, and utility planning efforts,” Evers wrote yesterday to Energy Secretary Chris Wright.

Wright has issued a series of 90-day emergency orders under Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act to delay the closure of the Michigan plant and the two Indiana plants.

DOE first ordered the Indiana plants to stay open days before they were scheduled to close in December, saying it was necessary to keep the plant open to maintain grid reliability; those orders were renewed for a third time on June 18.

The Campbell plant was subject to its fifth delay order on May 18, pushing the plant more than a year past its planned shutdown date.

In a statement, the DOE wrote that the emergency orders “prevented blackouts and likely saved lives during peak capacity events this past year,” citing a departmental fact sheet that claimed the plants provided “essential power” during Winter Storm Fern in January.

“These operations serve as a reminder that allowing reliable generation to go offline would unnecessarily contribute to grid reliability risks. The Department of Energy will continue to protect energy security for all Americans,” the department said.

Environmental groups and the attorneys general of several states, though not Wisconsin, have filed challenges against the DOE’s decisions in federal court, arguing the emergency orders are illegal and a pretext to funnel money to the coal industry.

Evers in his letter said that keeping the plants open would cost U.S. ratepayers $3.1 billion to $5.9 billion “over the next few years,” citing a “recent analysis.”

Evers’ spokesperson Britt Cudaback did not respond to a query to clarify the origin of those figures or the $117 million number.

“This means Wisconsinites will continue to foot the bill to keep these regional plants online despite their age, inefficacy, and, in some cases, their own operating utilities’ plea to allow these expired assets to be shut down,” Evers wrote.

The Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin has submitted court filings in lawsuits over both the Michigan and Indiana plants.

Writing on behalf of several consumer advocacy groups, CUB General Counsel Daniel Narvey wrote in a December amicus brief that delaying the Campbell plant’s closure usurped state regulatory authority and “forces already overburdened consumers … to bear millions of dollars in costs in exchange for dubious benefits.”

“The order thus not only affects Americans’ pocketbooks in the short run, it causes institutional damage to functional and democratic regulatory decision-making in the long run,” Narvey wrote.

— A new report from the National Federal of Independent Business shows Wisconsin’s small business job market is “tighter and tougher” than at the national level.

NFIB yesterday issued its latest Wisconsin Small Business Economic Trends report, which pulls data from the group’s monthly economic trends survey of its membership.

The survey, which asked business owners about their top challenges, found small businesses in the state reported “significantly greater challenges” with labor quality than others across the country.

NFIB calls this result unsurprising, noting it tracks with its Small Business Employment Index showing workers are generally harder to find and keep in Wisconsin.

But the survey also found small businesses in the state view poor sales as a less serious challenge compared to the national level, which authors called “a particularly positive result” given this factor’s association with economic downturns.

“The two divergent problems align in that a stronger sales environment often supports additional workers,” authors wrote.

Meanwhile, the survey also asked business owners about the health of their company. It found 10% in the state view it as excellent, compared to 12% at the national level. But 58% in the state said it was good, above the national rate of 53%. Another 29% in the state said fair, near the national rate of 30%. And just 3% in Wisconsin said poor, versus 4% for the U.S. overall.

“In sum: Minimal difference but on net better for Wisconsin,” authors wrote.

The report combines results from multiple surveys into a weighted average, covering the period between October 2025 and March 2026 with 146 total responses. The surveys are sent out by mail to NFIB members.

See more in the report.

— Qualified registered nurses can now teach clinical courses at Wisconsin nursing schools, under a new emergency rule.

Gov. Tony Evers yesterday rolled out changes to the state’s nursing school faculty approval process in a release, calling it a way to “alleviate significant nursing school staffing shortages” and lower barriers to the field.

“Especially as Wisconsin faces continued workforce challenges within our healthcare industry, we need to make sure qualified, trained medical professionals can join our workforce, and this is an important step to make sure that happens,” he said in a statement.

Before the rule was enacted last week, teaching clinical courses in nursing programs typically required a master’s degree in nursing. Under the new framework, qualified faculty must only have a bachelor’s degree in nursing, an active RN license or privilege in the state and at least two years of relevant clinical experience, among other requirements.

These include being enrolled in a graduate program and making “steady progress” toward completing it, having finished graduate-level courses or education in clinical practice, or have a national certification in a relevant nursing specialty.

The guv’s office notes the new rule follows at least 12 other states making similar changes, and a recommendation from the Governor’s Task Force on the Healthcare Workforce to expand who can teach nursing in Wisconsin.

It’s also supported by leaders of various organizations including Marquette University’s College of Nursing, the Wisconsin Nurses Association, the Wisconsin Hospital Association, the Association of Nursing Education in Wisconsin and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College’s College of Allied Health & College of Nursing.

See the release.

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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— State officials are sounding the alarm about “sophisticated” email scams tricking injured workers into participating in fraudulent worker’s compensation hearings.

The Department of Workforce Development yesterday issued an alert about a possible multi-state fraud scheme largely targeting Spanish speakers.

These scams use “.org” email addresses and fake agency names to dupe injured workers into joining false hearings over video conferencing, which can involve scammers playing the role of judges and attorneys, according to DWD. The Wisconsin Worker’s Compensation Division only schedules hearings through written letters, the agency says.

The fraud scheme aims to convince targets they’re being awarded money, but must first pay fees to finalize the case.

DWD is urging anyone who suspects they’ve been targeted to contact the department.

See the release.

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